As investigators peeled back the complex layers of contracts, contacts and under-the-table favors between electrical contractors, vendors and corporate executives they made a startling discovery: It was an inside job.
On Tuesday, the District Attorney’s Office and the state police are expected to arrest more than a dozen executives, including practically the entire staff of Bloomberg’s global construction and facilities department, on fraud, theft and bribery charges, according to one executive briefed on the investigation and defense attorneys.
The pay-to-play scheme, investigators say, operated undetected at Bloomberg and was centered around interior construction work at the company’s offices, including its headquarters at 731 Lexington Ave. Subcontractors and vendors are accused of paying bribes and kickbacks in various forms over nearly four years to executives at Bloomberg and to two executives at Turner Construction, a general contractor that oversaw work at Bloomberg.
The executives at Bloomberg and Turner and the vendors would then pad the bills for the work, raising the cost by millions of dollars for Bloomberg.
There is no evidence Michael Bloomberg was aware of the alleged fraud happening in his company, people briefed on the investigation said.
Spokesmen for Bloomberg and Turner said the companies were victims of a long-running scheme by rogue employees. “We thank the Manhattan district attorney’s office for uncovering this scheme,” Ty Trippet, a spokesman for Bloomberg LP, said.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to comment Monday on the investigation.
Anthony Guzzone, the former global head of construction at Bloomberg, sits at the center of the investigation. Guzzone was fired last October, as state police and investigators seized computers and company records at Bloomberg headquarters.
“Mr. Guzzone has had an unblemished life and a distinguished career,” said his lawyer, Alex Spiro, who expects his client to be indicted Tuesday morning. “We will fight any allegation against him.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.