The United States Attorney's office has issued a subpoena for the City of Chicago to turn over files related to a construction company formerly owned by and certified as a minority business.
Minority Firm Paid $26 Million: The company, City Construction Company has been paid at least $26 million over the last ten years, and received much of the work through Chicago's minority business set-aside program. Official records indicate ownership of City Construction Company has changed over the years, and the firm lost its certification as a minority business in 2009.
Chicago's Program a Target of Criticism: The City's minority program has been subject to criticism that many of the minority and women owned businesses were actually owned by white men, a practice known as setting up a "front company."
No Additional Details: The subpoena was issued to the City a year ago, but thus far there are no specific details available of what those records might show, or whether City Construction Company was operating as a front company or not.
More Information: For more information, click here to read a September 2, 2011 article from the New York Times.
Mike Purdy's Public Contracting Blog© 2011 by Michael E. Purdy Associates, LLChttp://PublicContracting.blogspot.com
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2 comments:
Fantastic to hear this Mike. Not that fraud may have been committed but there actually may be some enforcement and consequences. A strong message must be sent to companies who knowingly defraud our Set Asides system out of BILLIONS of dollars each year. I hope this company and, people involved get jail time and restitution of every dollars stolen through fraud.
I hope these companies are penalized.
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