Nelson Counne, who has been charged with grand larceny in the state of Connecticut, sat down with News 12 to insist he is innocent, telling the station that he never swindled a woman named Jillian out of $500,000 in the Greenwich case. He also said he has no recollection of another woman the reporter mentioned to him.
Confronted with the accusations, Counne was defiant. He said the women making claims against him should line up and come to court, repeating that he would not sue them and would simply let them come forward in front of a judge.
News 12 said it made contact with more than 10 women who claim they went through the same thing as the victim in this Greenwich case. According to those women, they were told they were making an investment, that they would get 10 times more money back, and that they never got it back. Counne denied ever saying that, telling the station, "I never said that."
The reporter also pressed him about three earlier cases in the Manhattan DA's office, where he had been charged with grand larceny and had served time. Counne described those as small cases, telling News 12 he did not want to dwell on them.
He acknowledged wrongdoing in those earlier cases, saying he was guilty of what he did, that he pleaded guilty and that he walked away from it. When asked whether he felt this current case was different, he said that it was.
Counne told the station that even if he were offered a deal to end the matter, he would refuse it. He said that if prosecutors gave him a suspended sentence with a one-dollar fine to plead to a misdemeanor, he still would not take it, repeating that he would not take a dollar in fines.
The victim in the Greenwich case gave a very different account to News 12. She said she wants to see Counne locked up behind bars and does not want him ever to come out again, and when asked what message she would send him, she gave a short, dismissive reply.