A New York City federal grand jury has indicted four individuals and three corporations for mail and wire fraud conspiracies related to work contracts at New York Presbyterian Hospital.
A four-count indictment charges Michael Yaron and two companies he owns with engaging in wire and mail fraud conspiracies to defraud the hospital. The two companies are the Cambridge Environmental & Construction Corp., which does business as National Environmental Associates (Cambridge/NEA), an asbestos abatement company, and the Oxford Construction & Development Corp., a construction company.
Also indicted on the same charges are Moshe Buchnik, the current president of two asbestos abatement companies; Emilio "Tony" Figueroa, a former director of facilities operations at NYPH; Santo Saglimbeni, a former vice president of facilities operations at NYPH; and the Artech Corp., a company owned by a relative of Saglimbeni.
According to the indictment, from as early as 2000 and continuing through January 2008, Saglimbeni awarded contracts for asbestos abatement, air monitoring and general construction to Yaron’s and Buchnik’s companies and in return received cash kickbacks. Investigators say most of the kickbacks were funneled through various intermediary companies and eventually to Saglimbeni through Artech, a company he created in a family member's name to conceal the kickbacks.
Most of the defendants have also been charged with wire fraud, as they allegedly transferred money electronically from the bank account of one co-conspirator to the bank account of Artech.
The indictment also charges that between June 2001 and June 2006, Saglimbeni, Figueroa and co-conspirators engaged in a mail fraud conspiracy in which contracts were awarded for the installation and repair of heating ventilation and air conditioning systems at NYPH to a co-conspirator in return for cash kickbacks and other gifts. Saglimbeni and Figueroa were charged with mail fraud, as they caused NYPH to mail a payment on a fraudulently awarded contract.
The individual mail and wire fraud violations each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The indictment also seeks the forfeit of certain assets received from the mail fraud activity.
The charges resulted from an ongoing federal antitrust investigation of bid rigging, fraud, bribery and tax-related offenses in construction, maintenance and service contracts administered by the Engineering Department of Mount Sinai Medical Center and School of Medicine (Mount Sinai) and the facilities operations department and the engineering department of NYPH.