A former Connecticut deputy budget director who was convicted on 21 federal charges related to bribery and extortion fled to Greece before his sentencing hearing in court Thursday, according to his lawyer and prosecutors.

Konstantinos Diamantis, 70, escaped the country before he could have faced 10 to 12 years in prison as requested by the prosecution. He was accused of extorting private contractors for bribes between 2018 and 2021 in exchange for helping the companies keep and obtain work on school construction contracts. If he wasn’t paid, Diamantis allegedly threatened to terminate the contracts.