CONTRACTOR PLEADS GUILTY TO PARTICIPATING IN FRAUD CONSPIRACY AT NEW YORK PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL

On April 11, 2008, Aaron S. Weiner, of Aaron Weiner Construction Inc. (“AWC”), pled guilty for acting as a conduit for a million dollar kickback scheme to defraud the New York Presbyterian Hospital (“NYPH”). An owner of two construction companies located in New York paid Mr. Weiner to pose as a consultant as a means to provide kickbacks to a former senior purchasing official at NYPH in return for awarding contracts that totaled at least $20 million. An elaborate scheme was set up to further cover up the scheme by having the checks forwarded to AWC, who in turn wrote checks to a shell company under the name of the mother of the former senior official at NYPH.
This case arose from an ongoing antitrust investigation relating to contracts administered by Facilities Operations Department and Engineering Department at NYPH and in the Engineering Department at Mount Sinai. It is being conducted by the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division in New York, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation’s New York Field Office. Last year, two other people Michael Theodorobeakos and Michale Vignola and their respective companies Monosis Inc and Mister AC Ltd. pled guilty to conspiring to rig bids on various services provided to the NYPH.

Andre Barlow
(202) 589-1834
abarlow@dbmlawgroup.com