A former Bechtel Corp. vice president has pleaded guilty to federal charges that he took $5.2 million in kickbacks on electric-power contracts in Egypt over a 15-year period, the Dept. of Justice has said.Asem Elgawhary, 73, a former Bechtel principal vice president, pleaded guilty on Dec. 4 in federal district court in Greenbelt, Md., to one count each of mail fraud, conspiracy to engage in money laundering and interfering with administration of tax laws.Elgawhary’s attorney did not immediately reply to an ENR request for comment.DOJ said that, from 1996 to 2011, Elgawhary was general manager of Power Generation Engineering and

Related Links: Transcript of 12/1/14 oral arguments Supreme Court's New Term Includes Two Key Cases The U.S. Supreme Court justices asked tough questions of both sides during Dec. 1 oral arguments in a case that centers on the government’s authority to issue interpretations of its own regulations without public input.The case could have significant implications for construction employers and small businesses that face real costs to comply with federal regulations.The case stems from an interpretive rule, issued by the Labor Dept. in 2010, that requires mortgage banks to pay loan officers overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act.The Mortgage Bankers

Related Links: Justice Dept. News Release on SAIC Settlement 2010 Federal Appeals Court Decision on SAIC Case Science Applications International Corp.—now Leidos Holdings Inc.—has agreed to pay $1.5 million to resolve a federal False Claims Act, or FCA, lawsuit alleging conflicts of interest related to the company's work for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission more than 10 years ago. The U.S. Dept. of Justice, which announced the agreement on Oct. 21, said the settlement resolves the claims and that there is no determination of liability.SAIC signed contracts in 1992 and 1999 with the NRC to help develop a regulation for the

Photo courtesy of ABA construction forum Construction attorneys at American Bar Association Chicago meeting shared strategies for ID'ing untruthful trial participants and covering added risk in teaming arrangements and project delivery, Related Links: American Bar Association Forum on the Construction Industry Teaming arrangements on many projects are creating new legal hurdles, such as protection of proprietary information, equipment ownership and the departure or termination of team members, according to Dallas attorney Charles E. Hardy."It can get expensive if you're not protected," he said during the fall meeting of the American Bar Association Forum on the Construction Industry.The former counsel for

Courtesy City of Madison Cities such as Madison, Wisconsin are the kinds of clients covered by the federal government's new municipal advisor rules. Related Links: New Federal Scrutiny of Advice to Municipal Clients SEC Rule Gives Design Frims Broad Exemption When is an engineer not an engineer?According to the U.S. Securities Exchange and Commission, whenever an engineer advises a municipality on project funding related to bond sales and debt financing, rather than project design or construction, the engineer is not performing engineering services.In that case, the SEC considers the engineering firm a municipal advisor and the firm is legally required

 The Wayne County, Mich., prosecutor has charged three current and former county employees with felonies and misdemeanors for misconduct and neglect of duty in allegedly failing to inform county commissioners of increases in the cost of a partly completed jail project. Days after charging the three, the county announced it had settled its claims in state court against the project's at-risk construction manager.Officials of the construction manager, a joint venture of Walbridge Aldinger Co., Detroit, and dck Worldwide, Pittsburgh, could not be reached for comment. A Wayne County spokesman said that, under the settlement, the county would pay the construction

Related Links: Devastated by Tornado, Joplin, Mo., Learning Lessons From Rubble Communities Ramp up Tornado Defenses Home Depot, the Atlanta-based building supply giant, faces a wrongful death lawsuit over eight people dying inside its store when a 200-mph tornado carved a path estimated as a mile wide and six miles long through Joplin, Mo., in 2011.The storm lifted the steel-truss roof from Home Depot, at 3110 E. 20th St., causing 63 concrete tilt-up building panels to topple.Russell T. Howard, a 29-year-old electrician, his 5-year-old daughter, Harli, and his 19-month-old son, Hayze, were crushed to death.On May 23, Howard's widow filed

PhScarborough had pledged coal waste at this West Virginia tract as the asset backing his bonds. Edmund C. Scarborough, who owned the biggest and most public individual surety business in the U.S., once claimed that his guarantees were backed by solid assets comprised of valuable coal waste.In federal bankruptcy court in Tampa July 17, Scarborough and his wife, Yvonne, filed for protection from their creditors, listing assets of $4.5 million and liabilities of $16.2 million.The 70-page filing states that the main business asset held by the debtors is IBCS Mining, a Charlottesville, Va., based company that

Courtesy NTSB Crash in 2012 cost insurer $1 million. Courtesy NTSB The runway slope was improperly made by contractor, claims insurer for crashed jet. An insurer that reportedly paid out $1 million to the owner of a small private jet that crashed on a Georgia airport runway in 2012 is suing the airport and a contractor that reconstructed the runway. The insurer claims the runway was improperly built.To win its case, the insurer, Old Republic Insurance, will apparently have to disprove part or all of a National Transportation Safety Board investigation of the crash at Macon Downtown Airport. The investigation

New York State Court lawsuit exhibit An aerial view of the excavation for Barclays Center in New York City entered as an exhibit in Laquila's lawsuit against Hunt. A New York State judge has ruled that Laquila Construction Group, the excavation and foundation subcontractor for the Barclays Center arena in Brooklyn, can sue prime contractor Hunt Construction Group for additional payment even though Laquila signed releases when it accepted progress payments during the project.The arena open on time in September 2012.New York City-based Laquila filed a complaint against Hunt in state court in Brooklyn in May, 2013. Although Hunt paid