Six corrupt Manhattan construction companies and eight executives were charged Tuesday in a lucrative scheme in which city and state contracts were diverted from deserving businesses owned by minorities and women.
“The common factor in all of these schemes is simple — greed at all costs,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in announcing the charges of pervasive fraud and corruption at a news conference.
“When the field is rigged, law-abiding companies and legitimate minority and women-owned businesses are cheated out of much-needed contracts,” he added.
Defendant JM3 Construction engaged in a “pervasive and multi-faceted” fraud through false filings indicating the business was using goods and services provided by minority and women-owned businesses — work actually handled by other companies, the DA charged.
“These defendants, as charged, enriched themselves at the expense of a program intended to assist minority and women-owned businesses,” said city Department of Investigation Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber.
The charges followed a long-term investigation by the DA’s office, kicked off by a probe into suspicious check cashing that led to investigations of bribery and the fraud schemes involving the businesses.
Authorities said one of the projects handled by the JM3 Construction enterprise was the National Urban League office in Harlem, with other sites in Brooklyn, the Bronx and New Rochelle.
JM3 head Lawrence Wecker, 82, was named along with four colleagues and their companies were charged in the illicit operation. Two subcontracting businesses identified as MGS Construction Corp. and JACG Construction LLC were actually run by two men on the JM3 payroll, officials charged.
Officials recovered a loaded .38-caliber handgun in Wecker’s home in November 2021, and he faced additional weapons charges.
“This kind of of activity sets us back,” said Adolfo Carrion Jr., commissioner of the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development. “For all our efforts, there’s always going to be bad apples trying to steal opportunities from people who are historically marginalized.”
As an aside, Bragg noted the charges came on day two of National Construction Safety Week.
According to authorities, the JM3 operation falsified business records and offered false instruments for filing with both New York State and the city to create the appearance that companies headed by women or minorities were involved in the construction projects.
The indictment also charges MGS defrauded more than $1.7 million from the New York State Insurance Fund, while co-defendant JACG Construction LLC illegally took more than $360,000 in premiums from the program.
Authorities charged the enterprise engaged in a wide-ranging number of criminal schemes from 2015 through 2021. In once instance, the defendants landed a $1.5 million contract for a Harlem drywall project — with authorities alleging two neighborhood business owners with vouching for the accused scammers.
Lashawn Henry, 60, and Brittany Henry, 27, of Urban Strategies of New York allegedly took cash payoffs in return for their help in landing the deal.