Lottery Lawyer In $102 Million Dollar Ripoff Of His Clients Seeks Probation
In a pre-sentencing filing that reads more like a cry for help from a crime victim than a plea for leniency by a defendant, disgraced Lottery lawyer Jason (Jay) Kurland says he has already suffered enough, and he doesn't deserve to go to jail.
Kurland was convicted at trial of five counts of wire fraud and related charges stemming from a $102 million rip-off in which Lottery winners were dunned out of much of their prize money by a diverse crew of schemers that included Kurland, a wiseguy, and a grandson of a Mafia boss.
In an astounding 120-page filing with Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Nicholas Garaufis, Kurland and his lawyers assert that his mob-connected codefendants are the real criminals in the case. They say the trio, including the pair who flipped and testified for the government, deceived him, and stole millions of dollars from his clients without his knowledge.
His attorneys wrote that the government's claim that Kurland is responsible for a $102 million loss and a prison term in the 20-year range, is "highly speculative and inaccurate."
They argue that he is responsible for just $626,000 "at most" of the money that winners lost, a figure derived from the illegal 1% in commissions that Kurland received for $62.6 million they invested in his companies and lost.
Lawyers Telemachus Kasulis and Dennis Dillon assert that sentencing guidelines of 37-to-46 months are more appropriate. But time behind bars for Kurland is not needed to "achieve the ends of justice," the attorneys assert, because of the severe financial and social consequences that their client has endured since August 18, 2020, "the day of his arrest."
The feds seized $447,690 Kurland had in two accounts. Worse, his prestigious Madison Avenue law firm fired him the same day he was arrested. Those injuries, compounded by his conviction last year, have had such a devastating impact on Kurland and his family that "probation with a term of home confinement would be sufficient but not greater than necessary to meet the needs of sentencing," the attorneys wrote.
Dennis Dillon"Jason's indictment and conviction already have had crushing direct and collateral consequences" on Kurland, 50, as well as his wife Lauren, and their three children, the attorneys wrote. "The financial fallout," the lawyers wrote, "forced the family to cancel religious celebrations and made them quit many of the sports and activities that formed such a central part of their lives."
The family has "cut spending where they could," the attorneys wrote, "but to fill the gap and attempt to minimize the effect of the charges on his children's day-to-day lives, Jason has spent almost all his retirement savings, and he and Lauren have given up their own health insurance."
Jason and his wife both work but they do not bring in anywhere near what Kurland earned as the "Lottery Lawyer," the attorneys wrote. Lauren, who had not worked since 2008, when their first two children were born, "recently found" a part-time job that "does not come close to matching" the salary that Jason makes now, which is "considerably less than half" of what he was earning for Rivkin Radler, the firm that fired him three years ago, Kasulis and Dillon wrote.
Kurland’s wife earned only $1,500 in March 2023, the lawyers report. Their client's "principal remaining asset is the family home, which the government seeks to forfeit," the lawyers wrote. "In short," they stated in their plea for leniency to Judge Garaufis, "Jason’s arrest and conviction have financially devastated his family, without prospect for meaningful recovery."
In Lauren's words, the lawyers wrote, their children have "lost so much of what brought them happiness" that she is "petrified of what else they could lose should their father be put in jail."
Even a non-custodial sentence will be a difficult and frightening hurdle for Kurland to overcome after all that's happened to him in less than three years, the lawyers assert.
"Jason has been a lawyer his entire adult life (and) building a new career after the age of 50 would be a daunting prospect even without the impediment of a federal criminal conviction," the attorneys wrote.
Jason Kurlan and Frank Smookle and the horse they bouht for one of Kurlantsr There were social consequences as well, the lawyers stated. "After his arrest, Jason quickly was ostracized, asked to step down from his charitable role at the Interfaith Nutrition Network," a Long Island charity that helps feed needy families. He was also "shunned by former colleagues and friends."
"While he desperately sought and ultimately found work, his deep and cherished connection to professional communities in real estate, finance, and the law was irrevocably severed," they wrote.
"Despite intense disruption to his life and deterioration of his own physical and mental health," the attorneys wrote, Kurland "found a job and remained employed, and continued to be present and engaged with his children. He has scrupulously complied with his conditions of release (and) he has been a model supervisee."
Kurland's primary legal practice had been real estate law until a "friend of a friend" asked him for help after he won a lottery drawing. Thus began Kurland's emergence as the self-declared "Lottery Lawyer."
That practice, however, soon included investing client's winnings in firms that Kurland owned without telling them, and by stealing from them as well, according to the feds.
After his indictment, he was hired by Elizabeth Chen, a realtor, who wrote to tell Garaufis that she is saddened by the possibility that he could be sentenced to prison because then she will lose a "great employee, a great teacher, and a great friend."
"For the last 2 years, Jason has been a very helpful person to me," wrote Chen, a Chinese immigrant who met him in 2014 and "reached out to him" because as a "Chinese businesswoman whose English is poor" she "had many experience with bad lawyers and bad businessmen" and she knew that "Jason is not like that."
"He helped me a lot," she wrote. "He has been by my side as I went through tough moments of my business, and through tough moments in my life as a new immigrant" when she "was taken advantage of many times by those dishonest people. Jason is the gatekeeper and the shield for my business."
Chen wrote that she has "read the judgement and cannot believe what happened" at his trial. "That is not the Jason I know. The Jason I know would never intentionally hurt any of his clients. I knew all about his businesses, and was an investor myself. He was very proud of those companies," she continued. "He was very open and honest about his companies."
In an effort to drive home Chen's opinion of their client, attorneys Kasulis and Dillon acknowledged that while three lottery winners lost "significant sums" from investments that Kurland "brought to them," he had "invested his own money" in two of the companies. "There was no evidence at trial," they wrote, "that Jason did not firmly believe the related investments would be profitable for his clients."
And "the record at trial established that Jason was deceived" by the codefendants who testified against him, Francis (Frank) Smookler and Frangesco (Frankie Boy) Russo, and by Genovese mobster Christopher Chierchio, the lawyers argued.
Chierchio, who copped a guilty plea calling for five years, is slated to be sentenced later this month. Russo, who spent about 18 months behind bars before he flipped, and Smookler, who agreed to cooperate back in 2021, have testified they are hoping for "time served" sentences.
"Smookler and Russo frankly admitted at trial," they wrote, "that Jason had no idea that they (and a cohort) had stolen $4 million dollars off the top of one of the investments" and "Chierchio has pleaded guilty to stealing" about "$41.5 million that his clients invested in PPE-related transactions."
"We respectfully submit that (many cited) factors require leniency," they wrote. "While we do not request a sentence of probation with home confinement lightly, we believe that it would be a reasonable sentence under the circumstances and consistent with the law’s admonishment that sentence must not be greater than necessary to reach the ends of justice."
DA Says Octogenarian Mob Associate Is Still At It
He's 82, but Lawrence (Larry) Wecker is still doing what comes naturally, and what he did decades ago with wiseguys Anthony (Fat Tony) Salerno and Steven (Stevie Wonder) Crea, namely bid-rigging, bribery, money laundering, and sundry other labor racketeering scams, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Wecker is the central figure among eight defendants and six companies charged with stealing millions of dollars from city and state agencies by fraudulently obtaining subsidies for numerous building contracts in a scam that began in 2015 and continued into last year.
The scheme included falsely claiming that workers on Wecker's building projects were employed by women-owned or minority-owned drywall companies, bribery, and insurance fraud.
It's at least the second trip to the Manhattan arraignment part for Wecker. In 2003, along with Luchese underboss Crea, Wecker pleaded guilty to state racketeering charges that had been lodged by then-DA Robert Morgenthau. He was sentenced to two years in prison for the charges.
This time around, the aging schemer stands accused of similar charges along with four cohorts, including Lisa Rossi, owner of LNR Construction, the bogus woman-owned company that got contracts but did no work, according to the 60-count racketeering indictment in the case.
In a court filing, Rossi, whose firm is located in East Harlem at 501 East 116th Street, was heard telling Wecker in one tape recorded call, "Stop telling people I'm an owner. I'm a pass through." Whatever her firm was called, it allegedly enabled Wecker's firm, JM3 Construction to "increase its government-subsidized affordable housing business" by using LNR to obtain contracts it couldn't get without her help, according to the charges.
During the investigation, Wecker was photographed paying a bribe to LaShawn Henry, who was allegedly used to get bogus minority owned business work for JM3. The hand off took place outside Rossi's East Harlem office, located a few blocks from where Wecker was photographed 40 years ago with Genovese acting boss Salerno in front of his headquarters at the Palma Boys Social Club.
On September 23, 2021, Wecker was heard discussing his arrangement with Henry with a JM3 foreman, according to a court filing:
"We have a good (thing) in there with this woman, LaShawn," Wecker said. "I take care, we use her, a black, she has a black woman's business thing . . . She works for them as a community organizer. She's always pushing us. They have a 400 unit job on Atlantic Avenue and it's supposedly our job and (we) don't want to blow it."
“The common factor in all of these alleged schemes is greed," Bragg stated at a news conference with Jocelyn Strauber, the head of the city's Department of Investigation, and Adolfo Carrión Jr., the commissioner of the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
When the field is rigged, law-abiding companies and legitimate (minority and women-owned businesses) are cheated out of much-needed contracts," said Bragg.
"These defendants," said Strauber, "enriched themselves at the expense of a program intended to assist minority and women-owned businesses, by deceiving city and state government entities, part of a series of frauds that shortchanged workers and undermined fair competition."
Veteran newsman Tom Robbins, who wrote about the Crea and Wecker case for the Village Voice and the Daily News, asked Bragg whether Wecker, who had been identified as a Luchese associate in the 2000 case, had "resigned from organized crime" since he wasn't described as a mob associate in the current case, technically known as an Enterprise Corruption indictment.
Bragg punted, saying he could only talk about what was in the four corners of the indictment.
Robbins, who now does double duty as a journalism professor at CUNY graduate school and as a reporter for the online news organization, The City, pressed: "So there was no organized crime involvement in this big fraud case?" Bragg punted again, and without further adieu, walked off the stage and ended the news conference.
Wecker, as well as Rossi, 52, of Eastchester, three other JM3 officials, Michael Speier, 46, of Jackson, NJ, Joseph Guinta, 57, of Middletown, NJ, and Marcos Pinheiro, 65, of Kearny, NJ, face up to 25 years in prison if convicted of enterprise corruption.
Larry Wecker gives LaShawn Henry a cash bribeLaShawn Henry, 60, of Manhattan, faces up to 15 years if convicted of the top count against her, grand larceny, and her daughter, Brittany, 27, of Yonkers, faces up to four years for filing false documents in the case.
The Henrys, of Urban Strategies of New York, allegedly received $16,000 in payoffs from Wecker during one year of the scam in order to facilitate subsidzied contracts that JM3 fulfilled, according to court filings.
In addition to his allegedly corrupt dealings with Fat Tony and the Genoveses in the 1980s and Steve Crea and the Lucheses in the late 1990s, Wecker was also involved in labor racketeering activity with DeCavalcante family in the 1990s, according to the testimony of Sean Richard, a son-in-law of the late New Jersey Boss John Riggi.
At Crea's 2019 trial in White Plains Federal Court, Richard testified that Wecker paid ten percent of the total value of building projects he had in New Jersey, "mainly high-rises," so he would be insulated and his job sites not be harassed with picketing or other problems by mob-controlled unions, Richard testified.
The money was split three ways "between the DeCavalcante crime family, the Luchese crime family and the Genovese crime family," said Richard.
Lottery Lawyer Pleads His Case For Mercy
Lottery Lawyer Jason (Jay) Kurland wants the judge who will decide his sentence to know that he has been "through hell" since his arrest. He suffers "excruciating pain" in the "pit of his stomach" whenever he is awake. He is now "begging for mercy" — and a no-jail sentence — for his conviction for fleecing people who struck it rich with the lottery only to make the mistake of investing their winnings with Kurland.
That part was a mistake, Kurland told Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Nicholas Garaufis. He insists that he never intended for his clients to lose any money and stated he feels "sick" about "how much money" they lost because of his actions.
In a six-page letter, Kurland maintained that he "was shamefully misled" by his three codefendants in his dealings with them. He wrote that he hopes the judge was listening at the trial and on the wiretaps and heard "how they stole, lied to me and falsely reassured me, and how they talked about me when they thought nobody was listening."
Kurland, who is slated to be sentenced next month, admitted that he "should never have recommended they invest in companies in which I had an ownership interest." But he hoped, he wrote, that "you believe based on what you heard at trial that my intent was never for my clients to lose money. It was wrong, and I can add that to my list of regrets."
Kurland stated that he hoped his request for such a "large departure from the sentencing guidelines" did not give Garaufis the impression that he "was not taking this matter (and his actions) seriously." Kurland assured the judge "with all of my heart" that he did, and understands the error of his ways.
He also offered the judge several reasons why he believes he deserved a non-custodial sentence.
"If I am able to remain at home, although I will not be allowed to practice law again, I do have a job and will be able to earn an income so I can maintain support for my family, and hopefully chip away at the restitution."
He will also be able to "dedicate my time to making sure other lawyers, especially young ones, do not fall into the same mistakes I did," he wrote. "I know that my story will have an impact on the way they practice," he stated.
And while the "Court might be inclined" to sentence a convicted lawyer "more harshly than someone else," Kurland wrote that in his case, "the fact that I was a prominent lawyer has contributed to me and my family suffering public humiliation by the press that exceeds that of most defendants."
"In minutes," he wrote, "I went from being a respected member of the bar and community to a national disgrace. I've even been labeled as a member of organized crime, which could not be further from the truth," Kurland wrote.
"I had never even heard the phrase 'La Cosa Nostra' until I read about it in the detention memo" which recommended that Frangesco Russo, the grandson of then Colombo boss Andrew (Mush) Russo be detained as a danger to the community, he wrote.
"I will never be able to change what has been written about me," Kurland continued. "That is something that me and my family will live with forever. As I work now and try to make a living, I'm embarrassed every time I tell someone my name."
"As I write this letter," Kurlnad wrote, "I am begging you for mercy. I have been through hell, much of it understandably due to my decisions. For the rest of my life, I will be burdened with a restitution judgment that will financially cripple me. I have lost my profession. Instead of being admired by my children, family and friends, I am nothing but a cause of their embarrassment and suffering.
"Anyone with a phone or computer knows how disgraced I've become," he continued. "I have suffered so much because of the hurt I have caused, and will continue to suffer for the rest of my life. I pray with the Court' s mercy that I can keep my family together, and give my beloved children a father in their remaining years at home.
"I pray with the Court's mercy I can help keep others from making the same mistakes I have. And I pray with the Court's mercy that I can live my life going forward with respect for the law, respect for my profession, and respect for the community I was so fortunate to be a part of."
Prosecutors are likely to differ strongly in terms of a recommended sentence that Garaufis should mete out to Jason Kurland on his judgment day. They are slated to file their sentencing memo later this month.
Gangland 5-4-2023
Moderator: Capos
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Re: Gangland 5-4-2023
Thanks for posting but how weak having 2 articles on the lottery scam.
Re: Gangland 5-4-2023
Thank you for posting. I wish I could thank Jerry, but there is nothing here to thank him for, pretty soon he's going to have to suck the farts out of the seats at the movie theater for money
Re: Gangland 5-4-2023
Lisa Rossi’s sister used to be married to or at least had kid with Joe Lubrano she’s the one allegedly now dating Barney.
Re: Gangland 5-4-2023
"The scheme included falsely claiming that workers on Wecker's building projects were employed by women-owned or minority-owned drywall companies, bribery, and insurance fraud."
^^^^^ This quote right here is not a scheme. If it was there would not be one good contractor left in the state you live in. Anyone not smart enough to do this should not own a business in construction anyways. In hindsight, it may be a scheme, but not a prosecutiortial one imo.
^^^^^ This quote right here is not a scheme. If it was there would not be one good contractor left in the state you live in. Anyone not smart enough to do this should not own a business in construction anyways. In hindsight, it may be a scheme, but not a prosecutiortial one imo.
Re: Gangland 5-4-2023
Who is Lisa Rossi and who is her sister? My point is, are they smokes? And if so-do you have pics so I can verify for authenticity purposes?
Re: Gangland 5-4-2023
So when he said the Decavs were getting a % of the kickback, he meant in 2023? I just want to understand I'm reading that clearly. I had to do a double take
Re: Gangland 5-4-2023
Lisa Rossi was indicted according to the article. Had an office in east Harlem apparently. She was used as a front for Wecker
Re: Gangland 5-4-2023
Here is the press release -
D.A. Bragg Announces Indictments in Wide-Ranging Construction Fraud Scheme
MAY 2, 2023
Construction Execs and Subcontractors Conspired to Fraudulently Use Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises as Pass-Through Entities to Obtain Contracts for Affordable Housing Developments
Engaged in Payroll and Insurance Fraud and Other Forms of Corruption
Announcement Comes During National Construction Safety Week
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., today announced a series of indictments charging eight individuals and six companies with pervasive fraud and corruption within the construction industry, including schemes that defrauded city and state agencies and affected the development of numerous affordable housing projects in New York City and the tri-state area.
“The common factor in all of these alleged schemes is greed at all costs,” said District Attorney Bragg. “When the field is rigged, law-abiding companies and legitimate MWBEs are cheated out of much-needed contracts. And when executives care more about their bottom line than their employees and the law, hard-working New Yorkers suffer. These indictments send the message that the Manhattan D.A.’s Office does not tolerate fraud in any form.”
New York City Department of Investigation Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber said, “These defendants, as charged, enriched themselves at the expense of a program intended to assist minority and women-owned businesses, by deceiving City and State government entities, part of a series of frauds that shortchanged workers and undermined fair competition. I want to thank the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and all the agencies that worked on this wide-ranging investigation for their commitment to expose and prevent construction fraud.”
“We have zero tolerance for anyone seeking to defraud the City and harm minority and women-owned businesses. HPD is serious about protecting the integrity of our MWBE programs,” said New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Adolfo Carrión Jr. “We stand by our commitment to diversifying who the city does business with and we thank the Manhattan District Attorney’s office for bringing these bad actors to light.”
New York State Homes and Community Renewal Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas said, “We applaud District Attorney Bragg and his office for uncovering and prosecuting this alleged fraud and malfeasance and protecting the integrity of Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises that lawfully abide by a program intended to promote employment and business opportunities on State contracts for minority and women-owned businesses. HCR will continue to assist and cooperate with the ongoing investigation.”
“Insurance fraud, including workers’ compensation fraud, costs honest companies and employees tens of millions of dollars every year,” said Gaurav Vasisht, Executive Director & CEO of the New York State Insurance Fund. “We work hard to educate injured workers, companies, and the medical community on spotting and reporting fraud, and we’re grateful to D.A. Bragg and his office for indicting the bad actors in this scheme.”
The indictments were the result of a long-term investigation by the Manhattan D.A.’s Office’s Rackets Bureau, which began when investigators identified a possible criminal enterprise after observing suspicious check-cashing activity. In turn, this led to separate investigations into recipients of bribes and the alleged Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (M/WBE) fraud schemes.[1]
One indictment charges JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC, its principal LAWRENCE WECKER, 82, MICHAEL SPEIER 46, JOSEPH GUINTA, 57, LISA ROSSI, 52, and MARCOS PINHEIRO, 65, as well as their companies (collectively referred to as the JM3 CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISE), with Enterprise Corruption, alleging that they engaged in multiple criminal schemes to increase their business and revenues to the detriment of their workers and fair competition within the industry. This indictment charges the defendants with 60 total counts, including conspiracy, insurance fraud, grand larceny, money laundering, falsifying business records, commercial bribing, scheme to defraud and offering a false instrument for filing.
According to court documents and statements made on the record, WECKER owned and operated JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC, a large, non-union drywall and carpentry company that specialized in government-subsidized affordable housing projects in New York County and the greater New York City area. WECKER, with assistance from SPEIER, directed business operations and was responsible for:
Reporting truthful information about JM3’s use of Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (M/WBE) subcontractors and suppliers to city and state agencies.
Providing truthful payroll information for workers’ compensation insurance purposes.
Giving accurate accounting information to clients.
Properly paying subcontractors.
From 2015 through 2021, the JM3 CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISE engaged in a multitude of criminal schemes, including falsifying the business records related to the large, multi-million-dollar cash payrolls of JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC and two subcontracting companies (JACG CONSTRUCTION LLC and MGS CONSTRUCTION CORP.) led by two men on the JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC payroll — GUINTA and PINHEIRO. PINHEIRO was responsible for generating the cash by using a series of shell companies to cash checks which were made to appear as payment for legitimate subcontractor services. JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC, JACG CONSTRUCTION LLC and MGS CONSTRUCTION CORP. used this cash to fund their payrolls.
During the course of the investigation, JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC’s cash payroll typically amounted to $150,000 a week, which also included the company making large, weekly cash payments to certain subcontractors, including PINHEIRO and GUINTA. None of the cash was reported to the companies’ workers’ compensation insurance providers or tax authorities. The companies and their owners also took steps to hide and cover up workers’ injuries so that clients and insurance providers would not discover the cash payroll.
Both MGS CONSTRUCTION CORP. and JACG CONSTRUCTION LLC had workers’ compensation insurance policies with the New York State Insurance Fund (“NYSIF”). They made false statements to NYSIF about their companies’ workforce size and payroll amounts. The indictment alleges that MGS CONSTRUCTION CORP. defrauded NYSIF of more than $1.7 million and continued to work following the cancelation of its insurance policy, thereby putting its workers at risk. JACG CONSTRUCTION LLC is alleged to have defrauded NYSIF of more than $360,000 in premiums.
The JM3 CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISE engaged in a pervasive and multi-faceted M/WBE fraud scheme to obtain lucrative, government-subsidized affordable housing contracts. This involved falsifying business records and offering false instruments for filing with governmental entities (the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the New York State Department of Homes and Community Renewal) to make it appear that M/WBE firms were providing goods and services on projects. In fact, JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC and/or other non-M/WBE firms provided the goods and services.
Among the projects in which the JM3 CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISE engaged in M/WBE fraud were:
National Urban League, 126 West 126th Street, Manhattan
The Fountains, 888 Fountain Avenue, Brooklyn
Vital Brookdale, 535 East 98th Street, Brooklyn
79 Avenue D, Manhattan
Via Vyse, 1812 Vyse Avenue, Bronx
Story Avenue East, 1520 Story Avenue, Bronx
14 LeCount Place, New Rochelle
Several methods of M/WBE fraud schemes were carried out by the JM3 CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISE, wherein pass-through entities — companies purported to be qualified M/WBEs but which performed no actual construction work — were used by the JM3 CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISE to gain business. One included the use of ROSSI’s company, LNR CONSTRUCTION LLC as a pass-through on projects. In another, the JM3 CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISE used Eco Geek Living, Inc., a certified M/WBE, as a pass-through to make it appear that Eco Geek Living, Inc. supplied goods/materials and services to JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC on certain projects. In order to obtain a $1.5 million drywall contract for a project in Harlem, the JM3 CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISE used URBAN STRATEGIES OF NEW YORK, INC. as a pass-through.
As alleged in a separate indictment, LASHAWN HENRY, 60, and BRITTANY HENRY, 27, and their company URBAN STRATEGIES OF NEW YORK, INC., accepted cash payments from JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC, WECKER, and other JM3 representatives in exchange for securing business for JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC. LASHAWN HENRY and BRITTANY HENRY sought to use their influence with a consulting client, a large affordable housing builder, to steer other contracts to JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC Additionally, LASHAWN HENRY, BRITTANY HENRY, and URBAN STRATEGIES OF NEW YORK, INC. conspired with WECKER and falsified records to claim that URBAN STRATEGIES OF NEW YORK, INC. would provide M/WBE subcontractor carpentry work for JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC, work which it was wholly unqualified to perform. This enabled JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC to be awarded a contract for a development in Harlem. (For more information, see the accompanying Statement of Facts).
WECKER and the JM3 CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISE stole money from their subcontractors and falsified related business records in connection with these thefts. They also rigged construction project bids to ensure that JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC was awarded projects with inflated amounts to cover substantial bribes. In one instance involving a lucrative drywall contract for nearly $10 million, the price was inflated by $400,000 so that JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC could pay a $50,000 kickback to ADRIAN ESPARRAGOZA, 48, the general contractor executive who awarded them the project.
ESPARRAGOZA, who is charged in a separate indictment, was an executive of a New Jersey-based construction company and responsible for the bidding and award process and the day-to-day supervision of a major Newark, N.J., project. ESPARRAGOZA is charged for providing insider information to WECKER and SPEIER to ensure the awarding of the contract in exchange for the kickback. The contract was later transferred to GUINTA’s company, JACG Construction LLC, who agreed to honor the bribe arrangement.
WECKER, SPEIER, and JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC also lied and stole money meant for subcontractors, including hundreds of thousands of dollars due to a JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC subcontractor for work done on a luxury condominium project on East 78th Street in Manhattan.
Investigators executed a search warrant on WECKER’s home in November 2021 and seized a loaded .38 caliber revolver. WECKER is additionally charged with Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second and Third Degrees and Criminal Possession of a Firearm.
During the course of the investigation into the JM3 CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISE and related entities, separate alleged fraud schemes were uncovered.
In a separate indictment, BIG APPLE DESIGNERS, INC. is alleged to have engaged in an M/WBE fraud scheme and falsified business records and filed false documents with HPD and DHCR. The filings stated that the company had purchased materials from Eco Geek Living, Inc., a New York State certified M/WBE firm. In reality, a non-M/WBE firm, supplied the materials.
Affordable housing development projects were affected, including:
Victory Plaza, 11 West 118th Street, Manhattan
Nevins Street Apartments, 50 Nevins Street, Brooklyn
Long Island College Hospital Redevelopment, 347 Henry Street, Brooklyn
In another indictment, LASHAWN HENRY is charged with an extensive grand larceny and disability fraud scheme for making false statements to the United States Social Security Agency (“SSA”), the New York City Human Resources Administration, New York City Transit and two private companies. LASHAWN HENRY received approximately $81,000 in disability insurance payments from SSA. Additionally, $225,000 of her federal loan debt was discharged after she used her SSA award letter to apply to the United States Department of Education for a Total and Permanent Disability discharge. During the period she collected these benefits, LASHAWN HENRY, as principal of URBAN STRATEGIES OF NEW YORK, INC., was receiving substantial contractual consulting fees from a general contracting firm and was using the company to pay her personal expenses.
Investigators from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office intercepted hundreds of communications in which LASHAWN HENRY made statements contradicting her disability claims and other claims made in applications for government public benefits. While conducting surveillances, investigators observed LASHAWN HENRY walking a construction site, attending a political fundraiser, driving her vehicle and entering a waterslide at Dorney Park amusement and water park.
BRITTANY HENRY is charged in a separate indictment with multiple counts of offering a false instrument for filing in connection with fraudulent claims for unemployment insurance. From April 6, 2020, to November 8, 2020, BRITTANY HENRY submitted 33 weekly certifications to the New York State Department of Labor stating that she had not worked and was eligible for unemployment benefits. However, during this entire period, she served as Vice President of URBAN STRATEGIES OF NEW YORK, INC and was paid a salary.
About National Construction Safety Week (May 1-5, 2023):National Construction Safety Week is an annual industry-wide education and awareness event. New York City agencies, led by the Department of Buildings, raise awareness across the city to talk to contractors and workers about work site safety. As part of the Manhattan Construction Fraud Task Force, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office investigated wage theft, safety hazards, fatalities and fraud in the construction industry. To report an incident, call 646-712-0298. Our office is a safe place to report crime, regardless of immigration status.
Assistant D.A.s James J. Hanley and Zachary Weintraub are handling the prosecution of these cases under the supervision of Assistant D.A.s Michael Ohm (Deputy Chief of the Rackets Bureau), Judy Salwen (Principal Deputy Chief of the Rackets Bureau) and Jodie Kane (Chief of the Rackets Bureau and Acting Chief of the Investigation Division).
Assistant D.A. Jaime Hickey-Mendoza assisted with the investigations. Investigations were conducted by former Rackets Senior Investigator Amanda Bauza, Rackets Senior Investigator Samuel Morales, Investigators Genesis Cornielle, Danielle Diaz and May Dempsey, Sgt. Daniel Clark-El and Investigative Analyst Philetus Holt. Trial Preparation Assistants Yanisa Campusano, Samantha Kritzer, and Eleanor Bock assisted with the investigation. Investigative support also came from the High Technology Analysis Unit (Director Steven Moran, Supervising Computer Forensic Analyst Douglas Daus, and Cyber Response Investigator Laurence Hayes) and Forensic Accounting & Financial Investigations Bureau (Senior Financial Investigator Nicholas Cangro and Forensic Accountant Investigator Edward Keegan). The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office’s Language Services Unit provided valuable support. Former Principal Financial Investigator Robert Ryan and former Trial Preparation Assistant Nicholas Quinn also assisted.
D.A. Bragg thanked the New York State Insurance Fund, especially Jessica Silver, Director of Investigations, NYSIF Division of Confidential Investigations; Senior Investigator Elaine Leach Investigator Dominick Raspante; and Senior Auditor Granville Mo. D.A. Bragg also thanked Assistant Commissioner Dhanraj Singh of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), Assistant Vice President Veronica Flanders and Counsel Mark Palomino of the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, Senior Counsel Simon Wynn of the Empire State Development Corp.; Conor Washington, Special Agent in Charge, Eastern Cooperative Disability Investigations Division, Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General. D.A. Bragg also thanks the New York City Department of Investigation, especially Investigative Attorney Marc Assa and Chief Investigator James McElligott, under the supervision of Inspectors General Michael Morris and Gregory Cho, Deputy Commissioner/Chief of Investigations Dominick Zarrella and First Deputy Commissioner Daniel Cort.
###
[1] The charges contained in indictments are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. All factual recitations are derived from documents filed in court and statements made on the record in court.
https://manhattanda.org/d-a-bragg-annou ... ud-scheme/
D.A. Bragg Announces Indictments in Wide-Ranging Construction Fraud Scheme
MAY 2, 2023
Construction Execs and Subcontractors Conspired to Fraudulently Use Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises as Pass-Through Entities to Obtain Contracts for Affordable Housing Developments
Engaged in Payroll and Insurance Fraud and Other Forms of Corruption
Announcement Comes During National Construction Safety Week
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., today announced a series of indictments charging eight individuals and six companies with pervasive fraud and corruption within the construction industry, including schemes that defrauded city and state agencies and affected the development of numerous affordable housing projects in New York City and the tri-state area.
“The common factor in all of these alleged schemes is greed at all costs,” said District Attorney Bragg. “When the field is rigged, law-abiding companies and legitimate MWBEs are cheated out of much-needed contracts. And when executives care more about their bottom line than their employees and the law, hard-working New Yorkers suffer. These indictments send the message that the Manhattan D.A.’s Office does not tolerate fraud in any form.”
New York City Department of Investigation Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber said, “These defendants, as charged, enriched themselves at the expense of a program intended to assist minority and women-owned businesses, by deceiving City and State government entities, part of a series of frauds that shortchanged workers and undermined fair competition. I want to thank the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and all the agencies that worked on this wide-ranging investigation for their commitment to expose and prevent construction fraud.”
“We have zero tolerance for anyone seeking to defraud the City and harm minority and women-owned businesses. HPD is serious about protecting the integrity of our MWBE programs,” said New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Adolfo Carrión Jr. “We stand by our commitment to diversifying who the city does business with and we thank the Manhattan District Attorney’s office for bringing these bad actors to light.”
New York State Homes and Community Renewal Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas said, “We applaud District Attorney Bragg and his office for uncovering and prosecuting this alleged fraud and malfeasance and protecting the integrity of Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises that lawfully abide by a program intended to promote employment and business opportunities on State contracts for minority and women-owned businesses. HCR will continue to assist and cooperate with the ongoing investigation.”
“Insurance fraud, including workers’ compensation fraud, costs honest companies and employees tens of millions of dollars every year,” said Gaurav Vasisht, Executive Director & CEO of the New York State Insurance Fund. “We work hard to educate injured workers, companies, and the medical community on spotting and reporting fraud, and we’re grateful to D.A. Bragg and his office for indicting the bad actors in this scheme.”
The indictments were the result of a long-term investigation by the Manhattan D.A.’s Office’s Rackets Bureau, which began when investigators identified a possible criminal enterprise after observing suspicious check-cashing activity. In turn, this led to separate investigations into recipients of bribes and the alleged Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (M/WBE) fraud schemes.[1]
One indictment charges JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC, its principal LAWRENCE WECKER, 82, MICHAEL SPEIER 46, JOSEPH GUINTA, 57, LISA ROSSI, 52, and MARCOS PINHEIRO, 65, as well as their companies (collectively referred to as the JM3 CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISE), with Enterprise Corruption, alleging that they engaged in multiple criminal schemes to increase their business and revenues to the detriment of their workers and fair competition within the industry. This indictment charges the defendants with 60 total counts, including conspiracy, insurance fraud, grand larceny, money laundering, falsifying business records, commercial bribing, scheme to defraud and offering a false instrument for filing.
According to court documents and statements made on the record, WECKER owned and operated JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC, a large, non-union drywall and carpentry company that specialized in government-subsidized affordable housing projects in New York County and the greater New York City area. WECKER, with assistance from SPEIER, directed business operations and was responsible for:
Reporting truthful information about JM3’s use of Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (M/WBE) subcontractors and suppliers to city and state agencies.
Providing truthful payroll information for workers’ compensation insurance purposes.
Giving accurate accounting information to clients.
Properly paying subcontractors.
From 2015 through 2021, the JM3 CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISE engaged in a multitude of criminal schemes, including falsifying the business records related to the large, multi-million-dollar cash payrolls of JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC and two subcontracting companies (JACG CONSTRUCTION LLC and MGS CONSTRUCTION CORP.) led by two men on the JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC payroll — GUINTA and PINHEIRO. PINHEIRO was responsible for generating the cash by using a series of shell companies to cash checks which were made to appear as payment for legitimate subcontractor services. JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC, JACG CONSTRUCTION LLC and MGS CONSTRUCTION CORP. used this cash to fund their payrolls.
During the course of the investigation, JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC’s cash payroll typically amounted to $150,000 a week, which also included the company making large, weekly cash payments to certain subcontractors, including PINHEIRO and GUINTA. None of the cash was reported to the companies’ workers’ compensation insurance providers or tax authorities. The companies and their owners also took steps to hide and cover up workers’ injuries so that clients and insurance providers would not discover the cash payroll.
Both MGS CONSTRUCTION CORP. and JACG CONSTRUCTION LLC had workers’ compensation insurance policies with the New York State Insurance Fund (“NYSIF”). They made false statements to NYSIF about their companies’ workforce size and payroll amounts. The indictment alleges that MGS CONSTRUCTION CORP. defrauded NYSIF of more than $1.7 million and continued to work following the cancelation of its insurance policy, thereby putting its workers at risk. JACG CONSTRUCTION LLC is alleged to have defrauded NYSIF of more than $360,000 in premiums.
The JM3 CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISE engaged in a pervasive and multi-faceted M/WBE fraud scheme to obtain lucrative, government-subsidized affordable housing contracts. This involved falsifying business records and offering false instruments for filing with governmental entities (the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the New York State Department of Homes and Community Renewal) to make it appear that M/WBE firms were providing goods and services on projects. In fact, JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC and/or other non-M/WBE firms provided the goods and services.
Among the projects in which the JM3 CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISE engaged in M/WBE fraud were:
National Urban League, 126 West 126th Street, Manhattan
The Fountains, 888 Fountain Avenue, Brooklyn
Vital Brookdale, 535 East 98th Street, Brooklyn
79 Avenue D, Manhattan
Via Vyse, 1812 Vyse Avenue, Bronx
Story Avenue East, 1520 Story Avenue, Bronx
14 LeCount Place, New Rochelle
Several methods of M/WBE fraud schemes were carried out by the JM3 CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISE, wherein pass-through entities — companies purported to be qualified M/WBEs but which performed no actual construction work — were used by the JM3 CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISE to gain business. One included the use of ROSSI’s company, LNR CONSTRUCTION LLC as a pass-through on projects. In another, the JM3 CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISE used Eco Geek Living, Inc., a certified M/WBE, as a pass-through to make it appear that Eco Geek Living, Inc. supplied goods/materials and services to JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC on certain projects. In order to obtain a $1.5 million drywall contract for a project in Harlem, the JM3 CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISE used URBAN STRATEGIES OF NEW YORK, INC. as a pass-through.
As alleged in a separate indictment, LASHAWN HENRY, 60, and BRITTANY HENRY, 27, and their company URBAN STRATEGIES OF NEW YORK, INC., accepted cash payments from JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC, WECKER, and other JM3 representatives in exchange for securing business for JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC. LASHAWN HENRY and BRITTANY HENRY sought to use their influence with a consulting client, a large affordable housing builder, to steer other contracts to JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC Additionally, LASHAWN HENRY, BRITTANY HENRY, and URBAN STRATEGIES OF NEW YORK, INC. conspired with WECKER and falsified records to claim that URBAN STRATEGIES OF NEW YORK, INC. would provide M/WBE subcontractor carpentry work for JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC, work which it was wholly unqualified to perform. This enabled JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC to be awarded a contract for a development in Harlem. (For more information, see the accompanying Statement of Facts).
WECKER and the JM3 CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISE stole money from their subcontractors and falsified related business records in connection with these thefts. They also rigged construction project bids to ensure that JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC was awarded projects with inflated amounts to cover substantial bribes. In one instance involving a lucrative drywall contract for nearly $10 million, the price was inflated by $400,000 so that JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC could pay a $50,000 kickback to ADRIAN ESPARRAGOZA, 48, the general contractor executive who awarded them the project.
ESPARRAGOZA, who is charged in a separate indictment, was an executive of a New Jersey-based construction company and responsible for the bidding and award process and the day-to-day supervision of a major Newark, N.J., project. ESPARRAGOZA is charged for providing insider information to WECKER and SPEIER to ensure the awarding of the contract in exchange for the kickback. The contract was later transferred to GUINTA’s company, JACG Construction LLC, who agreed to honor the bribe arrangement.
WECKER, SPEIER, and JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC also lied and stole money meant for subcontractors, including hundreds of thousands of dollars due to a JM3 CONSTRUCTION LLC subcontractor for work done on a luxury condominium project on East 78th Street in Manhattan.
Investigators executed a search warrant on WECKER’s home in November 2021 and seized a loaded .38 caliber revolver. WECKER is additionally charged with Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second and Third Degrees and Criminal Possession of a Firearm.
During the course of the investigation into the JM3 CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISE and related entities, separate alleged fraud schemes were uncovered.
In a separate indictment, BIG APPLE DESIGNERS, INC. is alleged to have engaged in an M/WBE fraud scheme and falsified business records and filed false documents with HPD and DHCR. The filings stated that the company had purchased materials from Eco Geek Living, Inc., a New York State certified M/WBE firm. In reality, a non-M/WBE firm, supplied the materials.
Affordable housing development projects were affected, including:
Victory Plaza, 11 West 118th Street, Manhattan
Nevins Street Apartments, 50 Nevins Street, Brooklyn
Long Island College Hospital Redevelopment, 347 Henry Street, Brooklyn
In another indictment, LASHAWN HENRY is charged with an extensive grand larceny and disability fraud scheme for making false statements to the United States Social Security Agency (“SSA”), the New York City Human Resources Administration, New York City Transit and two private companies. LASHAWN HENRY received approximately $81,000 in disability insurance payments from SSA. Additionally, $225,000 of her federal loan debt was discharged after she used her SSA award letter to apply to the United States Department of Education for a Total and Permanent Disability discharge. During the period she collected these benefits, LASHAWN HENRY, as principal of URBAN STRATEGIES OF NEW YORK, INC., was receiving substantial contractual consulting fees from a general contracting firm and was using the company to pay her personal expenses.
Investigators from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office intercepted hundreds of communications in which LASHAWN HENRY made statements contradicting her disability claims and other claims made in applications for government public benefits. While conducting surveillances, investigators observed LASHAWN HENRY walking a construction site, attending a political fundraiser, driving her vehicle and entering a waterslide at Dorney Park amusement and water park.
BRITTANY HENRY is charged in a separate indictment with multiple counts of offering a false instrument for filing in connection with fraudulent claims for unemployment insurance. From April 6, 2020, to November 8, 2020, BRITTANY HENRY submitted 33 weekly certifications to the New York State Department of Labor stating that she had not worked and was eligible for unemployment benefits. However, during this entire period, she served as Vice President of URBAN STRATEGIES OF NEW YORK, INC and was paid a salary.
About National Construction Safety Week (May 1-5, 2023):National Construction Safety Week is an annual industry-wide education and awareness event. New York City agencies, led by the Department of Buildings, raise awareness across the city to talk to contractors and workers about work site safety. As part of the Manhattan Construction Fraud Task Force, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office investigated wage theft, safety hazards, fatalities and fraud in the construction industry. To report an incident, call 646-712-0298. Our office is a safe place to report crime, regardless of immigration status.
Assistant D.A.s James J. Hanley and Zachary Weintraub are handling the prosecution of these cases under the supervision of Assistant D.A.s Michael Ohm (Deputy Chief of the Rackets Bureau), Judy Salwen (Principal Deputy Chief of the Rackets Bureau) and Jodie Kane (Chief of the Rackets Bureau and Acting Chief of the Investigation Division).
Assistant D.A. Jaime Hickey-Mendoza assisted with the investigations. Investigations were conducted by former Rackets Senior Investigator Amanda Bauza, Rackets Senior Investigator Samuel Morales, Investigators Genesis Cornielle, Danielle Diaz and May Dempsey, Sgt. Daniel Clark-El and Investigative Analyst Philetus Holt. Trial Preparation Assistants Yanisa Campusano, Samantha Kritzer, and Eleanor Bock assisted with the investigation. Investigative support also came from the High Technology Analysis Unit (Director Steven Moran, Supervising Computer Forensic Analyst Douglas Daus, and Cyber Response Investigator Laurence Hayes) and Forensic Accounting & Financial Investigations Bureau (Senior Financial Investigator Nicholas Cangro and Forensic Accountant Investigator Edward Keegan). The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office’s Language Services Unit provided valuable support. Former Principal Financial Investigator Robert Ryan and former Trial Preparation Assistant Nicholas Quinn also assisted.
D.A. Bragg thanked the New York State Insurance Fund, especially Jessica Silver, Director of Investigations, NYSIF Division of Confidential Investigations; Senior Investigator Elaine Leach Investigator Dominick Raspante; and Senior Auditor Granville Mo. D.A. Bragg also thanked Assistant Commissioner Dhanraj Singh of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), Assistant Vice President Veronica Flanders and Counsel Mark Palomino of the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, Senior Counsel Simon Wynn of the Empire State Development Corp.; Conor Washington, Special Agent in Charge, Eastern Cooperative Disability Investigations Division, Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General. D.A. Bragg also thanks the New York City Department of Investigation, especially Investigative Attorney Marc Assa and Chief Investigator James McElligott, under the supervision of Inspectors General Michael Morris and Gregory Cho, Deputy Commissioner/Chief of Investigations Dominick Zarrella and First Deputy Commissioner Daniel Cort.
###
[1] The charges contained in indictments are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. All factual recitations are derived from documents filed in court and statements made on the record in court.
https://manhattanda.org/d-a-bragg-annou ... ud-scheme/
All roads lead to New York.
Re: Gangland 5-4-2023
Construction firm indicted for MWBE fraud
JM3 allegedly used minority subcontractors as cover for cheap labor
Drywall wasn’t the only cover that one construction firm was putting up, Manhattan prosecutors said Tuesday.
On Tuesday, District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced 60 charges against eight people and six companies under the umbrella of Lawrence Wecker’s JM3 Construction Enterprises.
The counts allege a multimillion-dollar tax fraud scheme in which Wecker and his colleagues paid certified minority and women-owned businesses to bid on and win large, government-subsidized affordable housing contracts. Those firms then acted as a cover while JM3 paid undocumented and unreported workers off the books to do the projects.
The alleged pass-through companies included LNR Construction and Eco Geek Living LLC, according to the indictment. Wecker was previously indicted on mob-related charges and convicted of tax fraud, authorities said.
Such allegations have been a longstanding problem in the effort to boost minority contractors. On some government-funded projects, developers are tasked with using MWBE-certified firms to carry out 30 percent of the work.
“When the field is rigged, law-abiding companies and legitimate MWBEs are cheated out of much-needed contracts,” Bragg said in a press release.
Prosecutors said JM3’s scheme involved properties across three boroughs and southern Westchester from 2014 to 2021. In Manhattan, they included the National Urban League at 126 West 126th Street and L+M Development Partners’ 12-story apartment building at 79 Avenue D.
In Brooklyn, JM3 stands accused of construction and insurance fraud at a 160-unit affordable housing project in Brownsville and a 15-story mixed-use building at 888 Fountain Avenue in East New York. L+M paid $25 million for the latter site in 2021.
North of the Harlem River, JM3’s alleged fraud involved a seven-story residential building at 1812 Vyse Avenue, a 435-unit apartment complex at 1520 Story Avenue and a 457,000-square-foot, mixed-use project at 14 LeCount Place in New Rochelle.
In some cases, according to prosecutors, JM3 also stiffed firms.
By signing up, you agree to TheRealDeal Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.
“Wecker and JM3 allegedly stole money meant for subcontractors by never making good on a promised payment,” Bragg said. “One newly formed company’s young executives were forced to shutter their business when JM3’s payments never came through.”
The impact of the corruption stretched from the subcontractors to their workers, as the illicit hiring tactics prevented injured employees from access to worker’s compensation via the New York State Insurance Fund.
“If somebody gets hurt, if it’s minor, take him to urgent care, say it happened at home and we’ll pay him,” Wecker, 82, allegedly said in a 2021 telephone conversation, according to the indictment.
In another instance, an employee who received 45 stitches following a workplace injury was told by JM3 to lie to health care workers about where the injury came from, Bragg said in a press conference Tuesday.
Other activity uncovered during the investigation included a scheme by MSG Construction Corp. that defrauded the insurance fund of more than $1.7 million. Workers were sent back to construction sites even after their insurance was canceled, prosecutors said.
JACG Construction LLC was charged with defrauding the fund of more than $360,000.
This is not Wecker’s first rodeo with the Manhattan D.A. In 2000, he was one of 38 people, including union leaders and mobsters, indicted in a pervasive bid-rigging and racketeering conspiracy targeting the concrete industry.
The industry was a popular target for organized crime because concrete firms have to be within about 45 minutes of construction sites, putting them within easy reach of thugs.
In 1986, Wecker was an unindicted co-conspirator in a case involving organized crime and the concrete industry. In it, one mob boss described Wecker as a “walking ATM machine” for his money laundering abilities, according to the New York Times.
In 1997, Wecker was convicted of federal tax evasion.
JM3 allegedly used minority subcontractors as cover for cheap labor
Drywall wasn’t the only cover that one construction firm was putting up, Manhattan prosecutors said Tuesday.
On Tuesday, District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced 60 charges against eight people and six companies under the umbrella of Lawrence Wecker’s JM3 Construction Enterprises.
The counts allege a multimillion-dollar tax fraud scheme in which Wecker and his colleagues paid certified minority and women-owned businesses to bid on and win large, government-subsidized affordable housing contracts. Those firms then acted as a cover while JM3 paid undocumented and unreported workers off the books to do the projects.
The alleged pass-through companies included LNR Construction and Eco Geek Living LLC, according to the indictment. Wecker was previously indicted on mob-related charges and convicted of tax fraud, authorities said.
Such allegations have been a longstanding problem in the effort to boost minority contractors. On some government-funded projects, developers are tasked with using MWBE-certified firms to carry out 30 percent of the work.
“When the field is rigged, law-abiding companies and legitimate MWBEs are cheated out of much-needed contracts,” Bragg said in a press release.
Prosecutors said JM3’s scheme involved properties across three boroughs and southern Westchester from 2014 to 2021. In Manhattan, they included the National Urban League at 126 West 126th Street and L+M Development Partners’ 12-story apartment building at 79 Avenue D.
In Brooklyn, JM3 stands accused of construction and insurance fraud at a 160-unit affordable housing project in Brownsville and a 15-story mixed-use building at 888 Fountain Avenue in East New York. L+M paid $25 million for the latter site in 2021.
North of the Harlem River, JM3’s alleged fraud involved a seven-story residential building at 1812 Vyse Avenue, a 435-unit apartment complex at 1520 Story Avenue and a 457,000-square-foot, mixed-use project at 14 LeCount Place in New Rochelle.
In some cases, according to prosecutors, JM3 also stiffed firms.
By signing up, you agree to TheRealDeal Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.
“Wecker and JM3 allegedly stole money meant for subcontractors by never making good on a promised payment,” Bragg said. “One newly formed company’s young executives were forced to shutter their business when JM3’s payments never came through.”
The impact of the corruption stretched from the subcontractors to their workers, as the illicit hiring tactics prevented injured employees from access to worker’s compensation via the New York State Insurance Fund.
“If somebody gets hurt, if it’s minor, take him to urgent care, say it happened at home and we’ll pay him,” Wecker, 82, allegedly said in a 2021 telephone conversation, according to the indictment.
In another instance, an employee who received 45 stitches following a workplace injury was told by JM3 to lie to health care workers about where the injury came from, Bragg said in a press conference Tuesday.
Other activity uncovered during the investigation included a scheme by MSG Construction Corp. that defrauded the insurance fund of more than $1.7 million. Workers were sent back to construction sites even after their insurance was canceled, prosecutors said.
JACG Construction LLC was charged with defrauding the fund of more than $360,000.
This is not Wecker’s first rodeo with the Manhattan D.A. In 2000, he was one of 38 people, including union leaders and mobsters, indicted in a pervasive bid-rigging and racketeering conspiracy targeting the concrete industry.
The industry was a popular target for organized crime because concrete firms have to be within about 45 minutes of construction sites, putting them within easy reach of thugs.
In 1986, Wecker was an unindicted co-conspirator in a case involving organized crime and the concrete industry. In it, one mob boss described Wecker as a “walking ATM machine” for his money laundering abilities, according to the New York Times.
In 1997, Wecker was convicted of federal tax evasion.
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Ivan
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Re: Gangland 5-4-2023
I got a black-owned business for you right here pal
EYYYY ALL YOU CHOOCHES OUT THERE IT'S THE KID
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Shellackhead
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