Illinois Excavation Firm Worker Convicted in $280K Fraud Scheme in Suburban Chicago
Illinois Excavation Firm Worker Convicted in $280K Fraud Scheme in Suburban Chicago
Abstract
June 15, 2022 Annemarie Mannion KEYWORDS fraud / road construction Order Reprints No Comments A worker at an excavation company in suburban Chicago has been convicted on charges alleging that he paid more than $280,000 in kickbacks to a local road commissioner in exchange for approval of fraudulent invoices for work that was never performed. The 2020 indictment alleges that Giannini, who worked for Bulldog Earth Movers, Inc. in Bloomingdale, Ill., conspired between 2012 and 2020 with Robert Czernek, a former elected highway commissioner with Bloomingdale Township, to submit the fraudulent invoices for stone delivery, dump leveling and storm sewer work. Czernek, 71, pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of honest-services fraud, agreed to cooperate and testified at Giannini's trial. According to the indictment, Czernek hand-wrote notes containing false information that he wanted Giannini to include on invoices submitted by the company to the township. "The notes included the description of storm sewer work purportedly performed by BEM, and the number of hours and the dates on which BEM purportedly performed certain dump leveling work, when Czernek knew this work had not been performed by BEM. Some of the notes included details about the amount of money which Czernek wanted to be paid in kickbacks," the indictment states. According to the indictment, each kickback was typically $5 or $6 for each ton of stone noted on the stone delivery invoices, 50% of the total invoice amount for storm sewer invoices and varied amounts for dump leveling invoices. Calls to Bulldog Earth Movers, to Bloomingdale Township and to Giannini's attorney were not returned by press time.