Turner Ex-Construction Manager Gets 51 Months in Bloomberg Bribery Case
Construction executives from Bloomberg LLP, whose New York City headquarters is pictured here, and from Turner Construction Co. all have been sentenced for their roles in a $15-million decadelong bribery scheme. PHOTO BY FRANCK VERVIAL/CREATIVE COMMONS
The fourth and final New York construction executive implicated in the $15-million contracting bribery and tax evasion scheme involving Turner Construction Co. and its work for financial giant Bloomberg LLP was sentenced July 1 in Manhattan federal court to 51 months in prison.
Former Turner construction manager Vito Nigro received more than $1.8 million in bribes from subcontractors on projects the firm built for Bloomberg, said the U.S. Dept. of Justice and the Southern District of New York. He "used his position" to receive $1.35 million in cash "bribes from construction subcontractors, who paid kickbacks in exchange for being awarded construction contracts and subcontracts," they said.
Nigro. who received the most prison time of the four convicted in the case, "also received in-kind bribes in the form of renovations and improvement projects at his New Jersey residence," according to the announcement..
The judge is also expected to enter a restitution order for between $780,000 and $812,000 that Nigro will owe the IRS.
In a statement to ENR on June 12, Turner said Nigro "betrayed" the company and his fellow former employees. The firm also noted its cooperation "with law enforcement throughout the investigation" into the four men.
The sentencing ends the proceedings that began in July 2020, in the wake of the defendants' convictions, when former Bloomberg construction manager Michael Campana was sentenced to 24 months in prison for evading taxes on bribes of $420,000. Campana and the others pleaded guilty to the charges against them.
In January, Anthony Guzzone, Bloomberg's ex-director of global construction, was sentenced to 38 months in prison for evading taxes on $1.45 million in illegal payments, and was ordered to pay restitution of $574,005 in unpaid taxes.
In June, Ronald Olson, who had been vice president and deputy operations manager at Turner Construction, was sentenced to 46 months for taking kickbacks of $1.45 million in exchange for contracts, and took “bribes in the form of renovations and improvement projects at his Long Island residence and his Long Beach Island, N,J. house,” said the sentencing announcement.
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