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Dec 10, 2018

Former Bloomberg executives to be charged in construction kickback scheme

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The Manhattan District Attorney’s office and New York state police are expected to slap charges of fraud, theft and bribery on more than a dozen former executives at Bloomberg and other companies for allegedly awarding expensive construction projects to contractors seeking to work on Bloomberg offices, the New York Times' Charles Bagli reports.

The details: "Subcontractors and vendors are accused of paying bribes and kickbacks in various forms over nearly four years to executives at Bloomberg and to two executives at Turner Construction, a general contractor that oversaw work at Bloomberg. The executives at Bloomberg and Turner and the vendors would then pad the bills for the work, raising the cost by millions of dollars for Bloomberg," Bagli write.

Sources with knowledge of the investigation told the Times that there’s no evidence that Mike Bloomberg knew of the scheme.

What they're saying: Spokespersons for Bloomberg and Turner reportedly said that both companies were victims of fraud: "We thank the Manhattan district attorney’s office for uncovering this scheme," Ty Trippet, a Bloomberg spokesman, told the publication.

  • The Manhattan DA's office declined to provide comment on the probe to the Times.

The backdrop: In February, the Times reported that state police and investigators raided Bloomberg headquarters and the Turner Construction offices in Manhattan in 2017, demanding access to the officers and records and emails of some senior executives.

Take note: BuzzFeed News' Mike Hayes also reported that sources say four former employees at Bloomberg will be indicted, including former global head of construction, Anthony Guzzone. The report added that three former employees of Turner Construction were charged and one reportedly made a plea deal.

Editor's note: The headline and first sentence of this story has been corrected to say that the people being charged were former Bloomberg executives and people from other companies are also being charged.

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