Summary

Stephen Funny, President of Fairview Contracting Corporation (Fairview) of Elmsford, NY, plead guilty in U.S. District Court, Islip, NY, to money laundering charges in connection with DBE fraud. As part of his guilty plea, Funny admitted that between about January 2000 and December 2001 he conspired with representatives of Perini Construction, Inc. (Perini) and Walter Construction Associates, Inc. (Walter) to commit fraud under subcontracts valued over $7.8 million. The scheme involved Fairview acting as a ‘front’ DBE under three NY City DOT construction projects in which Walter actually performed the subcontracted work, while Fairview submitted fraudulent invoices for the associated labor and materials to Perini, the prime contractor. Funny’s sentencing date has not been set. The investigation is being conducted under a multi-agency Federal Construction Fraud Task Force.