The owner of a Rockland County construction service company pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to defraud the New York Power Authority and filing a false tax return.
Thomas Delaney, the owner of Over Rock Construction LLC, a Bardonia-based company, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in White Plains to the two-county felony charge.
In October 2009, Delaney’s company was awarded a five-year, $3 million contract to perform landscaping, snow removal and masonry work at the Power Authority’s administrative facility on Main Street in White Plains.
According to the Department of Justice, Delaney and co-conspirators submitted fraudulent certified payroll statements and invoices to the Power Authority for “no show” employees to generate cash for those involved in the scheme.
The false and fraudulent overcharges paid by the Power Authority to Over Rock between 2009 and 2012 totaled more than $400,000. Delaney also pleaded guilty to filing a fraudulent tax return that understated his income.
“The defendant cooked the books twice ”“ first so he could defraud the New York Power Authority and then again to avoid paying taxes he owed,” said Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer of the Justice Department”™s Antitrust Division.
The case was investigated by the state Office of the Inspector General, the Antitrust Division’s New York office, the FBI and the IRS.
Delaney’s guilty plea to the fraud conspiracy charges carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. The guilty plea to filing a false tax return has a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $100,000 fine. It was not made clear when Delaney would be sentenced.
