Ten current construction supervisors and one retired supervisor at Consolidated Edison, the utility serving Manhattan and its northern suburbs, were arrested on Jan. 14 for soliciting and accepting more than $1 million in kickbacks since 2004 from a construction contractor. Prosecutors declined to identify the contractor because it is cooperating in the probe and will plead guilty, officials said. Work involved in the scheme included cleanup and repair of an underground steam pipe that exploded in Manhattan in July 2007, killing one pedestrian. U.S. Attorney Benton J. Campbell says the firm’s president and co-owner, also not identified, paid bribes in
Ten current construction supervisors and one recent retired official of Consolidated Edison, the utility serving Manhattan and its northern suburbs, were arrested Jan. 14 for soliciting and accepting more than $1 million in kickbacks from a construction contractor since 2004. Work involved in the bribery scheme also included cleanup and repair of an underground steam pipe that exploded in Manhattan in July 2007, killing one pedestrian, injuring others and causing millions of dollars in damage. Photo: AP Repair of steampipe that exploded in Manhattan in 2007 was among work that bribe contractor handled. Officials in the office of U.S. Attorney
Gov. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.) has withdrawn from his nomination as commerce secretary in President-elect Barack Obama’s Cabinet. In a Jan. 5 news conference, Richardson stated that an ongoing federal grand jury investigation into a state contract related to Governor Richardson’s Investment Partnership (GRIP), won by Beverly Hills, Calif.-based CDR Financial Products, “would have forced an untenable delay in the confirmation process.” The investigation centers around a $1.48-million consulting contract CDR won in 2004 with the New Mexico Finance Authority, a state agency that finances infrastructure projects. CDR was part of a team of financial services firms that advised NMFA on
The master rigger of a 200-ft-high tower crane that collapsed at a midtown Manhattan construction site last March, killing seven workers and civilians, was indicted Jan. 5 on multiple charges of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, assault and reckless endangerment. Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau also said that rigger William Rapetti, 48 and his firm Rapetti Rigging Services Inc., Massapequa, N.Y., failed to file tax returns. Photo: Debra K. Rubin/ENR District Attorney Robert Morgenthau announces indictment of tower crane rigger while Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn (left) noted stricter city crane safety rules. Following his arraignment, also on Jan. 5, Rapetti faces
Operation Board Games, a widening, five-year probe of pay-to-play corruption in Illinois state government, culminated on Dec. 9 with the arrests of Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) and John Harris, his chief of staff, for conspiring to commit fraud and soliciting bribes. Among other things, Blagojevich sought contributions from an unnamed local concrete firm executive and active member of Skokie-Ill.-based American Concrete Pavement Association in exchange for contracts under a $1.8-billion program to upgrade the state’s toll roads, U.S. attorneys say. If the funds were raised to his liking by the end of the year, the governor would have increased the
Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford and two associates were arrested on Dec. 2 and charged with 101 federal counts including bribery and money laundering in connection with bond transactions and swap agreements related to bonds for a $3-billion county sewer project and other municipal financial deals. The charges stem from Langford’s time as president of the Jefferson County Commission and head of its Dept. of Finance and General Services. He was charged with soliciting bribes in exchange for steering business to William Blount, a Montgomery, Ala., investment banker. It was a classic pay-for-play scheme tied to the sewer bonds, says U.S.
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