A construction manager who admitted to falsifying business records was sentenced to half a year behind bars Tuesday.
The case against Michael Speier and seven other executives was first unveiled by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in May of 2023 during a press conference in which he told journalists that the building bosses made it seem as though they were working with minority and women-owned businesses when they were, in reality, stealing construction jobs from them, bribing officials to obtain the contracts they were not qualified to perform, and committed tax fraud.
“These defendants, as charged, enriched themselves at the expense of a program intended to assist minority and women-owned businesses, by deceiving city and state government entities, part of a series of frauds that shortchanged workers and undermined fair competition,” New York City Department of Investigation Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber said in 2023.
The indictment charges JM3 Construction LLC, a large non-union drywall and carpentry company, with its principal executives Lawrence Wecker, 82, Michael Speier, 46, Joseph Guinta, 57, Lisa Rossi, 52, and Marcos Pinheiro, 65, (in addition to their companies) with enterprise corruption. On June 4, Wecker was sent to prison for two to six years for his part in the scheme, despite protests from his lawyer alleging ill health.
Bragg’s office found these unscrupulous construction executives and subcontractors had conspired to use minority and women-owned businesses to obtain affordable housing development contracts, and during their scheme, they allegedly engaged in payroll and insurance fraud and other forms of corruption. Bragg asserts that their criminal acts affected numerous affordable housing projects as well as placed construction workers at risk for the sake of greed.
“The common factor in all of these alleged schemes is greed at all costs,” District Attorney Bragg said back in May 2023. “Schemes to increase their business and revenues to the detriment of their workers and fair competition within this industry,” Bragg said.
Speier appeared before Judge Althea Drysdale on July 23, who sentenced the manager to six months imprisonment and three years probation. He also was forced to pay $10,000. Speier was immediately handcuffed and taken into custody.
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