Another Bovis fraudster gets away with it

From the Daily News:

A former top executive for one of the city’s biggest construction firms dodged a lengthy prison sentence in a massive overbilling scheme after his lawyer pleaded for leniency in a Brooklyn federal courtroom “he literally built.”

John Hyers, Sr., received one year of probation for his role in a scheme by Bovis Lend Lease to submit $19 million in fraudulent bills over the past decade.

"In a courtroom which he literally built, I beg you to let him off as leniently as your awesome powers allow," defense lawyer Mark Baker said to Judge Allyne Ross.

Hyers had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud — and eventually came forward with information about the scam, prompting federal prosecutors to also urge the judge to go easy on the company exec.

Hyers faced more than 10 years in prison under sentencing guidelines, but will pay a mere $15,000 fine.

He’s the second Bovis Lend Lease official to be charged yet receive no jail time. Last month, former Bovis executive James Abadie was also sentenced to probation and fined $175,000 for his role in the scam.

Collapsed crane had bad history

That dangling crane on W57th Street, owned by Bovis Lend Lease, has been tethered to the building, but CBS New York details its dubious past: • On Sept. 21, the safety manager at the site complained to the Buildings Department that the crane was leaking oil onto an adjacent building; • On May 18, the safety manager said while the crane was moving a panel, a gust of wind rotated it and the panel crashed into a 10th floor window. • On April 19, the ball on the end of the crane came loose; • On March 14, allegations were of misuse were issued when the crane was lifting beams over the sidewalk. • On Feb. 27, unsafe crane conditions were reported; • On June 15, 2011, there were reports that the crane was not installed properly.

Bloomberg covering for shady construction company

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"Look into the Bovis Lend Lease fiasco near Carnegie Hall: the crane dangling from the Billionaires nest on top of the building under construction is managed by Bovis Lend Lease which was fined 53 million dollars for contract fraud. They are one of Bloomberg's preferred construction firms. In yesterday's press conference, Bloomberg was careful not to say a critical word about Bovis Lend Lease." - anonymous

Here's a clip about Bovis Lend Lease from the NY Daily News (April 2012):

Huge contractor Bovis Lend Lease hit with fraud charges for overbilling on jobs around city Company, which skirted charges in Deutsche Bank, allegedly padded overtime

JOHN MARZULLI, GREG B. SMITH
Tuesday, April 24, 2012

One of the world’s biggest contractors routinely inflated bills on high-profile construction jobs over the last decade, ripping off taxpayers and developers alike, prosecutors charged Tuesday.

Bovis Lend Lease - which has billions of dollars of public and private construction work around the city and world - was for the first time hit with criminal charges.
But the company, after dodging charges in the 2007 Deutsche Bank tower fire, will again avoid prosecution after paying $50 million in fines and restitution — and agreeing to clean up its act.

You may recall Bovis Lend Lease was also in charge of construction at the Trump Soho tower where a worker was killed as well as the demolition of the Deutsche Bank Building, where firefighters were killed. They also built Yankee Stadium and Citifield.

Good thing the mayor's got their back!

Construction billing practices being investigated

From Crains:

Federal prosecutors are investigating the billing practices of four more New York City construction giants, radio-station WNYC reported Monday morning. Turner Construction Company, Tishman Construction, Plaza Construction and Skanska USA are now under the FBI's magnifying glass. That news comes after charges filed against Bovis Lend Lease in April ultimately led to an admission of guilt and $56 million in fines.

A grand jury subpoena had been issued to a firm called AECOM, a parent company of Tishman, in December of last year, the report said. But a spokesman from Tishman declined to comment on the investigation.

Turner Construction Company issued a statement this afternoon confirming that they, among other major construction contractors, had been issued a subpoena by the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York last December.

Companies currently under investigation are involved in a number of large-scale public projects, including the extension of the 7th Avenue Subway line.

Bovis Lend Lease is fined big time

From the Daily News:

One of the world’s biggest contractors routinely inflated bills on high-profile construction jobs over the last decade, ripping off taxpayers and developers alike, prosecutors charged Tuesday.

Bovis Lend Lease - which has billions of dollars of public and private construction work around the city and world - was for the first time hit with criminal charges.

But the company, after dodging charges in the 2007 Deutsche Bank tower fire, will again avoid prosecution after paying $50 million in fines and restitution — and agreeing to clean up its act.

The company was charged with three counts of fraud conspiracy.

At the same time, a top Bovis executive in New York, James Abadie, pleaded guilty to fraud conspiracy charges in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Abadie admitted he and other unnamed Bovis executives let the laborers union “add one or two hours of overtime to their time sheets every day whether they worked it or not." They passed these costs on to their customers.

Abadie was released on $500,000 bond. He faces up to 12 and a half years in prison.

Prosecutors noted that some of the alleged fraud was committed in buildings next to and across the street from the courthouse where Abadie pleaded guilty.

Bovis got $6M federal stimulus money

From the NY Times:

Government agencies in the New York region, wary about potential fraud and abuse in the $787 billion federal stimulus program, have said they are taking extraordinary measures to ensure that contracts for projects ranging from subway tunnels to summer jobs programs do not go to companies with questionable histories.

But despite such efforts, records show that one federal agency has awarded $6 million in stimulus funds to a huge international construction management company that has been the focus of two criminal investigations in the last two years and was suspended in June from bidding on and performing work at New York City schools.

The company, Bovis Lend Lease LMB, avoided manslaughter charges late last year in the deaths of two firefighters at the former Deutsche Bank building in 2007, admitting failures and agreeing to safety reforms in an agreement with prosecutors.

The company’s legal troubles have continued this year with a separate investigation by the F.B.I., federal prosecutors in Brooklyn and the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which also investigated the Deutsche Bank fire. It centers on accusations of overbilling, bribery of union officials and other alleged improprieties on several large New York projects, including the new Mets baseball stadium, Citi Field, and the Sept. 11 memorial.

Several stimulus-financed federal contracts were awarded to Bovis by the federal General Services Administration, the government’s building management agency, from May through August, according to federal procurement records. The four contracts involve the supervision of construction projects, including two, according to an agency news release, that are part of $62 million set aside to pay for renovations at two federal buildings in Downtown Brooklyn. Those buildings are the old Federal District Courthouse and the United States Post Office, across Tillary Street, the latter of which houses the federal prosecutors now overseeing the inquiry into Bovis.

CitiField contractor cheated employees

From the Daily News:

The construction management giant that built the Mets' Citi Field routinely cheats workers out of overtime, a former employee says.

Renee Sewell accuses Bovis Lend Lease of violating federal wage and labor laws for workers at sites in New York and New Jersey, including the Deutsche Bank tower demolition at Ground Zero.

Sewell, a former Bovis project engineer, sued in Manhattan Federal Court, saying she routinely worked 50 hours or more a week but was denied overtime premiums.

Sewell, of Hoboken, worked at the company from February 2007 through May 2009, when she was laid off.

Sewell's lawyers hope to sign up other workers denied overtime as part of a federal class action.

Bovis "deprived workers, who worked long hours performing low-level construction management services at its work sites, of the overtime premium to which the law entitles them," Sewell's lawyer, Rachel Bien, said yesterday.

Sewell's accusations come as federal probers pore through the books of the Australia-based management firm.

Bovis Lend Lease probed by U.S. Attorneys

From the Daily News:

Early this month, mega-builder Bovis Lend Lease was on track to win a contract to build a new 1,200-student high school in Brooklyn.

But then came word that prosecutors had hit the Australian-based giant with subpoenaes in an expanding criminal probe of payroll and billing irregularities.

The School Construction Authority quickly rejected Bovis' $72.7 million bid, saying it will move to hire the next lowest "responsible" bidder.

That bidder has yet to be chosen, but the cost to taxpayers will jump by at least $62,000.

The cost for Bovis - one of the biggest players in the construction industry in the world - could be far steeper.

Government agencies could bar them from future contracts. Some could even cancel ongoing jobs if wrongdoing is found to have taken place at those sites.

Investigators are now scouring records to see if Bovis employees schemed to inflate bills or pay ghost employees, according to several sources familiar with probes by U.S. attorneys in both Manhattan and Brooklyn.

At the moment, prosecutors are looking at what went on at five New York City jobs, some of which are ongoing: the Sept. 11th memorial, a new wing of New York University Hospital, the new Citi Field stadium, a mall in Rego Park, Queens, and demolition of the former Deutsche Bank tower at Ground Zero, the sources said.