Bloomberg LP executives, building contractors arrested in alleged kickback scheme

[TexasTowelie]

Rogue executives from Bloomberg LP conspired with building contractors on Manhattan projects to steal $15 million by inflating bids, generating phony work orders and misappropriating other cash, the Manhattan district attorney’s office said Tuesday.

The alleged conspiracy, lasting from May 2011 to October 2017, involved at least 14 people — including three from Long Island — and three companies doing work on 120 Park Ave. and 919 Third Ave., according to the district attorney’s office. The companies named are Hugh O'Kane Electric and Litespeed Electric, both of Manhattan, and Cooling Guard Mechanical of Middle Village, Queens.

“New York’s sky-high construction costs are driven not only by market demand, but by pay-to-play industry corruption that makes it impossible for honest companies to compete,” the district attorney, Cy Vance, said in a press release.

The projects involved interior office space for Bloomberg LP, the media company owned by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is reportedly considering running in 2020 for president of the United States.

Read more: https://www.newsday.com/news/new-york/bloomberg-lp-executives-building-contractors-arrested-in-alleged-kickback-scheme-1.24463131

[nitpicker]

1. Link to NY Post

https://nypost.com/2018/12/11/construction-chief-ripped-off-bloomberg-to-build-dream-house-prosecutors/

(snip)
He was constructing things, all right — for himself.

The well-paid head of construction for Bloomberg LP built a palatial home in New Jersey with some of the $15 million he and accomplices plundered in a bid-rigging and bribery scheme he masterminded, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Anthony Guzzone, 49, pocketed “millions in cash” and a “number of expensive items” in the scam that overcharged ex-Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s financial services company for work on its offices at 120 Park Ave. and 919 Third Ave., Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Christopher Beard said in court.

The freebies included high-end, stainless-steel kitchen appliances, ironwork for security gates, custom barbecues and custom patios.

“He built himself a palace out there in New Jersey — all if it with money stolen from Bloomberg,” Beard said of Guzzone, who has since been fired.
(snip)