New York – World Trade Center Contractor Found Guilty Of Fraud Scheme

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    Larry Davis, 65, on trial for fraud charges stemming from a contract to do construction work at the World Trade, is seen outside the Federal Courthouse in New York, New York, U.S. August 8, 2016.  REUTERS/Nate RaymondNew York – The Canadian owner of a company that had contracts worth nearly $1 billion to do construction work at the World Trade Center was convicted on Wednesday of charges that he defrauded a program intended to promote minority- and women-owned businesses.

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    Larry Davis, 65, and his company, DCM Erectors Inc, were each found guilty by a federal jury in Manhattan on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to prosecutors.

    Davis is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 15. Sanford Talkin, his lawyer, said he was disappointed by the verdict and plans to appeal.

    The charges stemmed from contracts DCM Erectors won to perform work for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on the 104-story Freedom Tower and a nearby transportation center built after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks destroyed the World Trade Center.

    Prosecutors said contracts awarded beginning in 2007 required Davis, DCM’s founder and chief executive, to devote tens of millions of dollars to hire businesses owned by minorities and women as subcontractors.

    Prosecutors said he instead used two purported minority- or women-owned firms as fronts, paying kickbacks to their principals to sign papers submitted to the Port Authority while the work was actually performed by DCM or another company Davis was close to.

    DCM was awarded a $256 million contract to erect steel in the Freedom Tower in 2007 and a $330 million contract in 2009 for work at the World Trade Center Transportation Hub.

    Changes in the scope of work helped boost the costs to almost $1 billion, prosecutors said.

    Davis and DCM denied wrongdoing, saying they never intended to make any false claims to the Port Authority about the work being done and that the subcontractors did the work that was promised.

    “What Larry Davis did between 2008 and 2012 and a little beyond is dedicate his life, dedicate his business to rebuilding the World Trade Center,” Talkin, his lawyer, told jurors during opening statements.

    The trial came two years after Davis, a resident of Mississauga, Ontario, was arrested. At an October, 2014, court appearance, he told a judge he would plead guilty, but then decided not to, telling the judge he did not know that what he did was wrong.

    The principals of the two businesses that prosecutors said participated in the scheme with Davis, Johnny Garcia and Gale D’Aloia, pleaded guilty in 2014 and cooperated with authorities.


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    3 Comments
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    jack-l
    jack-l
    7 years ago

    Canadian boy eh?

    md2205
    md2205
    7 years ago

    You would think the city would want to employ people from its own city or at least state or country and bring back jobs to the nation as we are trying to recover from a long recession…

    The_Truth
    Noble Member
    The_Truth
    7 years ago

    It should be illegal to REQUIRE businesses to hire minorities or women or any other specifics, or special dispensation to special businesses owned by minorities or women. You cant discriminate in the workplace for anything, so how can government contracts (or any contracts) specify this or any % requirement for sub-contractors to be of specific group?!!?
    It would be a scandal all over the news if a job was advertised as “Only Jews allowed” or ” No Blacks allowed”; so how can they say “You have to employ minorities or women owned businesses”.