Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: Second guilty plea announced in probe of New York Power Authority contractors, (Dec 3, 2015)
Organizations Mentioned:KTSS Construction & Consulting, LLC | New York Power Authority
By Jeffrey May, J.D.
An ongoing investigation into bid rigging, fraud, and tax-related offenses in the award of contracts by the New York Power Authority (NYPA) has netted a second guilty plea. Peter Shine, the owner of a construction company from Orangeburg, New York, has pleaded guilty in the federal district court in White Plains, New York, to filing a false tax return in connection with the probe. According to the one-count felony charge filed on December 2, Shine submitted a Form 1040 for the tax year 2013 that substantially understated his taxable income (U.S. v. Shine, Case No. 7:15-cr-00826-CS).
This is the second guilty plea in the investigation, which was initiated by the New York State Inspector General. It has been nearly six months since Thomas Delaney, owner of Over Rock Construction LLC—a Bardonia, New York, construction service company—pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the NYPA and filing a false tax return. The Department of Justice, the Internal Revenue Service, and the New York State Inspector General announced that charge on June 8, 2015. According to the two-count felony charge in that case, Delaney, whose company was awarded a five-year $3 million contract to perform landscaping, snow removal and masonry work at NYPA’s administrative facility in White Plains, participated in a scheme to defraud the state's power organization.
In the latest charge, the government did not identify the name of the company that Shine owns. However, he is a registered agent with KTSS Construction & Consulting, LLC, according to New York State records.
William Baer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice Antitrust Division, pointed to the case as an example of the Antitrust Division’s willingness to work with law enforcement partners “to ensure that crimes uncovered during our investigations get prosecuted.”
Companies: KTSS Construction & Consulting, LLC
News: Antitrust AntitrustDivisionNews