OPERATING ENGINEERS (IUOE) / ELEVATOR CONSTRUCTORS
(IUEC)
Developer's Partner Pleads Guilty in $10 Million Fraud Case
Prosecutors secured their first guilty plea in titanic scandal involving
a Manhattan developer and several union bosses from Int'l
Union of Operating Eng'rs Local 14 and Int'l
Union Elevator Constructors Local 1 who allegedly defrauded the N.Y.
Metro. Transp. Auth. (i.e., taxpayers) and a landlord of more than $10
million by billing for phantom workers at inflated rates. Edward Carroll,
vice-president of 2BW Development Corp., pled guilty June 4 to obstruction
of justice in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1503, 3551. The charges
were filed in connection with false information that he provided to a federal
grand jury in the prosecution of the $10 million fraud scheme.
The money at issue was intended for legitimate labor costs, but a substantial
amount allegedly went to indicted developer Frederick
Contini, owner of 2BW Development, in the form of cash kickbacks for
his participation in the scheme. In one transaction, Contini received a
winery in Italy from the tainted funds. For a full record of the
crimes charged in the Apr. 16 indictment see http://www.nlpc.org/olap/UCU3/05_09_01.htm.
Carroll, who was partners with Contini, submitted false invoices to
the MTA from a subcontractor known as "Links.” These invoices purporting
to be from Links totaled in excess of $13 million and were prepared by
Carroll under the direction of Contini. When asked questions concerning
the handling of Links invoices, Carroll misled the grand jury by leading
it to believe that Links invoices had been handled like other invoices
in the normal course of business. [DOL 6/4/02]
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