ANSONIA – Former Mayor David Cassetti and his lawyer said this week an investigation into Cassetti’s past use of city-owned credit cards is a witch hunt designed to tarnish his image.
“The case is complete and absolute bull****,” said Rob Serafinowicz, Cassetti’s lawyer.
Alderwoman Jacquelyn Daniels, the head of the Ansonia Democratic Town Committee, said the characterization is wrong.
“This is not an internal review. It’s an independent review. It’s going to establish the facts, and that’s what we’re going to see as residents,” Daniels said.
Investigation Underway
Mayor Frank Tyszka’s administration hired The Crumbie Law Group in June to review practices under former Mayor David Cassetti. The past use of city credit cards is part of the investigation.
The firm is being paid $550 per hour for lawyer services, and $125 per hour for paralegal services. The Crumbie Law Group is the same firm that investigated former New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart’s spending, effectively ending her campaign for governor.
FOI Request
The Valley Indy submitted a freedom of information request in May asking city hall for documentation of Cassetti’s credit card purchases since 2013.
The city released the information this month dating back to 2018. The Valley Indy reviewed about 400 pages of documents, which includes around 800 purchases.
The record of Cassetti’s spending and reimbursement he paid is not complete.
However, interviews and a review of the spending show Cassetti’s credit card use appeared to have no structure. Municipal credit cards, also known as “p cards” or “purchase cards,” are supposed to be used for city business only.
Example — the state comptroller’s office publishes rules for state employees saying official use only, and that cards can’t be shared.
Cassetti made personal purchases using the city credit card. However, Cassetti and his lawyer said when he made a personal purchase, he reimbursed the city. That’s an area that is under review by the Crumbie Law Group.
The records also show that multiple departments in the city made purchases using Cassetti’s card.
The city, during Cassetti’s tenure and before he took office, had no specific policy regulating credit card/purchase card use.
That’s not unusual locally. Derby and Seymour don’t have specific credit card/purchase card policies, either. However, the use of the cards in those towns is regulated through normal purchasing procedures.
The Ansonia City Charter says purchases of less than $2,500 are to be pre-approved through a submission of a purchase order. It’s a basic check on government spending.
It is unclear whether that always happened with the former mayor’s credit card.
Cassetti had some discretion, though, in the form of about $20,000 of “miscellaneous” money built into the Ansonia city budget.
Tyszka said documents shared so far show Cassetti’s spending was reckless, especially since it was happening as Ansonia government was using reserves to balance the budget and selling its WPCA for $41 million to cover revenue gaps.
“You certainly won’t find me spending that kind of money on the city credit card,” Tyszka said. “A: I don’t have one. B: We have procedures in place to make sure that me or anybody else that works for the city is not doing that.”
The Spending
The documents released by the city date back to 2018.
The records show Cassetti’s card being used to pay for thousands of dollars in hotel reservations, department and grocery store spending, banners, restaurant bills, and flowers.
He spent about $156,561 on the city credit card between July 2018 and November 2025.
The most he spent on the card in a year was 2024, when the card was used for about $29,000 in purchases. The lowest he spent was just under $11,000 in 2020.
A partial breakdown shows the card was used to spend:
- $33,814 on hotels in Naugatuck, Shelton, Milford, and Lake George, N.Y.
- $23,641 on purchases from Wal-Mart, BJ’s, Big Y, and other grocery and department stores
- $9,315 on banners and signs
- $7,872 on restaurant bills and gift cards
- $4,531 on flowers
- $1,968 on a SiriusXM radio subscription, though about $872 was returned to the city
- $9,091 on expenses relating to a city-run youth boxing program promoted by Cassetti, a former boxer
Serafinowicz, Cassetti’s lawyer, said the majority of the credit card spending was for legitimate city business. Some of the hotel spending was on securing temporary housing for fire victims after their residences had been declared uninhabitable.
The Ansonia GOP, in a comment on Facebook posted referencing an earlier media report, pointed out “the article today clarified the charges went towards city events, city boxing for the kids, rock the valley etc.”
However, there are charges that remain unexplained.
For example, Cassetti’s card incurred multiple large payments attributed to something with “Paypal” in the charge. Serafinowicz said it may have been fraudulent.
The payments included:
- $3,898 to “Paypal Stock Market” in August 2024
- $2,965 to “Paypal Stock Market” in May 2024
- $2,298 to “Paypal Stock Market” in November and September 2023
- $708 to “Paypal *VUWORLGFW2” in September 2023
- $2,399 to “Paypal *Surefirepro” in June 2020
Also unexplained so far: a $652 charge at Tiki Resort Lake George in New York in 2021, a $231 bill from Misimi Hibachi restaurant in Shelton in 2025, and a $179 purchase from a Hong Kong-based “red light therapy” brand in 2024.
Those expenses were among those the city could not explain, citing a lack of access to the records.
Serafinowicz said those charges may have come from others who had access to Cassetti’s card.
The city card was also regularly used to purchase flowers and sympathy cards, and was used in at least one year to purchase boxes of chocolate for city staff around Christmas.
Personal Purchases
Cassetti also used his city card for personal purchases. In October 2025 the card was used to purchase $129 in products from The Beard Club, a shaving company, and Weston Milan, a menswear brand.
The records show Cassetti did pay the city back for The Beard Club and Weston Milan purchases.
The personal purchases were rare until 2024, when they started showing up more frequently in the statements.
In September 2024, Cassetti’s card was used to spend $97 on products from Jack Archer, a menswear brand.
In August 2025, Cassetti spent $154 on Dolci Lusso, another menswear brand, and $62 on Hairbello, a company which sells hair products.
Recurring charges from The Beard Club and Breevelle, a breath fragrance company, show up in September and October 2025.
October 2025 also included purchases from Alvano and Tailored Athlete, two menswear companies, and HappySupp, a supplement company based in Tennessee.
Individual receipts for those purchases weren’t available as of July 30.
Serafinowicz said the mayor made personal purchases by accident. When that happened, he would pay the money back, Serafinowicz said.
“Fran (Jesulaitis) from the finance department would simply come to Dave, say ‘Mayor, this is a private charge,’ and he would give her the money for it,” Serafinowicz said.
Cassetti previously told The Valley Indy he sometimes mistakenly made personal purchases on Amazon using the city credit card.
He said it happened because he had multiple credit cards on file with Amazon, and would forget to set his personal card as the default card.
The documents show a total of 25 Amazon Marketplace expenses charged to Cassetti’s card between 2018 and 2025, in amounts ranging from $6.97 to $496.
The reports do not include specifics of those charges or show whether they were reimbursed.
His city credit card was also charged a total of about $311 for Amazon Music and Amazon Prime memberships between 2018 and 2022.
Politicos Weigh In
Tony Mammone, a former Republican Alderman and the former Ansonia Republican Town Committee chairman, said the mayor always paid the city back for his personal purchases in the same month when he charged them.
“He didn’t pay it back three years later. It wasn’t restitution. It was a recognized misuse of the card that was covered in the period that it was expensed,” Mammone said.
Mammone also referred to the investigation as a “witch hunt.”
He said Tyszka should have turned the records over to the Ansonia Police Department if he believed there was wrongdoing.
“I don’t think you need some overpriced law firm to review this. And again, if they had found alarming transactions or they had found things that were grossly negligent, illegal, call them what you may, they should have sent it right to the Ansonia Police Department,” Mammone said.
The Tyszka administration has said law enforcement could get involved, depending on the conclusions reached by the Crumbie Law Group.
The Ansonia GOP posted a comment on Facebook July 27 saying “anything personal by mistake was repaid within the month it incurred.”
The GOP also said Crumbie isn’t a neutral party but is tied to state Democrats.
New Ansonia Republican Party leader Dana Haigh said a narrative about the spending has been spun before all the facts have been found.
“I think the method in which it’s happening and what is being released so far is extremely targeted at spinning a narrative before facts can come out,” Haigh said.
Haigh said the city should not be spending money on the investigation.
“One could argue that (Tyszka’s) spending on several investigations, that have yet to gain anything for the City, are far worse than chocolates from CVS,” Haigh said.
Ansonia Democrats posted on Facebook that the investigation is to ensure taxpayer dollars are being spent responsibly.
“Ansonia taxpayers deserve answers, strong oversight, and responsible management of every public dollar. Mayor Tyszka is delivering the fiscal responsibility and accountability Ansonia residents deserve,” the party posted July 27.
Who Was Using The Card?
Serafinowicz said Cassetti used the card properly despite the lack of a credit card policy.
He also said that Cassetti wasn’t the only person making purchases under his name.
Serafinowicz said staffers throughout city government – including the billing department, police department, fire department, Ansonia Rescue Medical Services, the mayor’s assistant, and building department – all used Cassetti’s credit card.
Daniels said the lack of oversight of Cassetti’s purchases was questionable and worth reviewing.
“There was sloppiness with the card, and we’ll wait and see what the investigation turns up and determines. But again, these are things that require careful oversight. They’re public funds,” Daniels said.
Tyszka said the credit card purchases show a lack of control over spending.
He said Ansonia had no business fronting the money to put “Rock the Valley” cover bands in hotels, buying candles from Yankee Candle, or paying for a satellite music subscription.
The public deserves a complete account of how the card was used, which is why the city opted to bring in a third party, Tyszka has said.
“You have a fiduciary responsibility to the town, and I take it very seriously. I watch every penny,” Tyszka said this week.
He also said no one else should have been using Cassetti’s card, and that the city should have set clear rules.
The city adopted a policy governing the use of credit cards in March. The three-page policy can be read and downloaded here.
Javier Varas, the mayor’s chief of staff, said Crumbie Law Group’s investigation includes checking whether Cassetti paid Ansonia back for the money he spent on personal items.
Varas said they’re also trying to locate equipment and items purchased with Cassetti’s card, including a $202 order from Yankee Candle in February 2025, and a $500 order placed in October 2025 with “Luminance RGB Laser Light Show Systems.”
Spot Check
The records released by the city do not show a detailed receipt for each credit card transaction. There were about 800 transactions total.
The Valley Indy this week requested descriptions for about 20 purchases between 2020 and 2025, including whether the city was reimbursed.
The city responded with descriptions of five purchases, but said records connected to the other 15 purchases are currently in the hands of Crumbie Law Group.
The Valley Indy also asked Serafinowicz, Cassetti’s lawyer, for additional information.
Here are some of the purchases The Valley Indy asked for more information about:
BJ’s Wholesale
Cassetti charged $1,055 at BJ’s Wholesale in June 2024. It was for city business, specifically for “water purchased by the fire department for emergency calls,” according to the city’s financial department.
Serafinowicz said Cassetti’s card was used to buy pallets of water for various city departments, including the police and public works.
Varas said the city now handles water purchases through a standard procurement process through the finance department.
Target
Two other payments in 2024 – $117.68 to Target and $155.21 to From You Flowers – were for sympathy cards, gift cards and gift baskets.
Serafinowicz said Cassetti’s flower purchases – which totaled about $4,531 between 2018 and 2025 – were to place flowers around the city and to send condolences after city residents died.
“They were for flowers around the city at certain spots, and they were for when people died,” Serafinowicz said. “For example, Nick Amico, who held a million positions with the city throughout his life, died, so the city sent him flowers and they had a big flower arrangement delivered to his funeral.”
Quassy Amusement Park
Cassetti’s card incurred a $199 charge from Quassy Amusement Park in 2022. Serafinowicz said that was a donation for a program run by city public works employee Harold George Beall which allows kids from the north end to visit Quassy.
Other Charges
Cassetti charged $459 to the city two weeks before Christmas in 2024 to purchase 35 boxes of chocolate for city staff from CVS.
He also charged the city a total of $780 for three purchases from Spirit Halloween in October 2023, 2024 and 2025. Serafinowicz said the purchases were for city-sponsored Halloween events.
A series of $100 charges to various restaurants around Ansonia were for gift cards that the city gave out to people “who helped the city or worked hard to receive an award,” according to Serafinowicz.
The restaurants included Crave, Palma, and Relish Wine Bar & Grill.
Reaction
William Luneski is an unaffiliated small business owner in Ansonia who has, over the years, offered critiques of both Democratic and Republican administrations.
He is currently serving on the Ansonia Economic Development Commission.
He said the spending described by The Valley Indy and other media outlets were not responsible uses of taxpayer dollars.
“A digital Christmas card sent via email works for free,” Luneski wrote in a message. “You (convene) donors to the cause of kids’ programs and awards. The millions the taxpayers have been fleeced from the past administration’s flippant ineptitude will haunt us for decades.”
Steven Adamowski was an Alderman from 2021 to 2025, endorsed by the Republican ticket two times. A retired school superintendent, he now serves on the Ansonia Board of Education, where he was nominated by both parties to run for a seat last year.
Adamowski said the school districts he worked in always had written credit card policies. He said the lack of rules creates a system ripe for abuse.
“I think when you have suspicious charges that extend over a period of years, my governmental experience tells me that that is a sign that there are not proper controls in place,” Adamowski said.
He said that he didn’t know that Cassetti had a city-issued credit card.
“I don’t think members of the Board of Aldermen were even aware of which city employees had (credit) cards or not. I was not, during my service on the Board of Aldermen, actually conscious that the mayor had a credit card, and certainly had no information as to how he was using it. It was just something that was never mentioned,” Adamowski said.
The use of municipal credit cards is not just an issue in Ansonia, as the Erin Stewart headlines show.
The Yankee Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Hartford that calls for limited government, has called for state government to make “p-card” purchases by state employees more transparent by creating a database the public can review.
The New Haven Register reported July 10 that state agencies are now required to report on a monthly basis when employees break the rules with the cards.
There is no word on when The Crumbie Group’s work will be finished.