Minority building ‘scams’
Two leading construction firms with multibillion dollar contracts for massive Big Apple projects — including the Fulton Street transit hub — are under investigation for allegedly scamming their way out of minority-hiring requirements.
Schiavone Construction Co. and Skanska USA allegedly used front companies that appeared to be minority-owned in an effort to meet federal quotas. But the jobs were actually handed over to the construction companies’ own employees or to other subcontractors that were not certified as run by minorities or women.
Schiavone — whose former part owner, ex-US Labor Secretary Raymond Donovan, beat mob-tied fraud charges in 1987 — is expected to settle with the Brooklyn US Attorney’s Office in a criminal probe early next week, a source told The Post.
The investigations, by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn and Manhattan, were spurred in part by an outside monitor hired by the MTA to oversee megaprojects, including Fulton Street, the Second Avenue subway and the extension of the No. 7 line.
A consultant, Toby Thatcher, discovered some of the subcontractors were actually front operations, and passed on his findings to the MTA Inspector General’s Office, which then informed the feds.
Schiavone Construction’s lawyer, Austin Campriello, declined to comment.
Skanska, meanwhile, confirmed that it was under scrutiny for its hiring of a New Jersey-based minority subcontractor.
“We are aware of a government investigation involving Environmental Energy Associates, a minority subcontractor used by Skanska USA Civil in New York, as well as numerous other contractors,” spokeswoman Nicole Didda said.
“Skanska has and continues to cooperate fully with the government in connection with this inquiry.”
A man who answered the phone at Environmental Energy refused to discuss the probe, or even reveal his name.
“I don’t want to give you anything like that,” he said.
