Gold9472
01-11-2008, 11:44 AM
DA EYES DEUTSCHE MONEY 'FRAUD'
http://www.nypost.com/seven/01102008/news/regionalnews/da_eyes_deutsche_money_fraud_454804.htm
By MURRAY WEISS - Criminal Justice Editor
January 10, 2008 -- Hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars earmarked for the demolition of the Deutsche Bank building may have been ripped off, The Post has learned.
The revelation deepens the scandal surrounding the cursed building, where firefighters Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino wre killed in a blaze last summer.
The money trail emerging from a mountain of more than 1 million pages of subpoenaed financial records and documents - has already led to a questionable pattern of corporate and bank transfers involving hundreds of thousands of dollars, law-enforcement sources said.
Some of the funds have passed into companies that prosecutors and city investigators suspect are "shell" businesses created on paper to mask the ultimate destinations of the money.
The disclosure raises the possibility that cash may have been diverted and used for a number of illicit reasons including:
Lining the pockets of company officials or employees whose existence was unknown to city and state officials.
Kicking back money to people involved in the contracting process.
Making payments under the table so recipients could avoid taxes.
"Hundreds of thousands of dollars has been seen so far going south," one source said. "The question is, where was it going and where did it end up?"
The probe, conducted by the Manhattan DA and the city, has prompted a grand jury - which had been gathering once a week to investigate the fire - to now meet twice a week to hear the mounting evidence.
The DA's presentation is expected to take months to complete, the sources said.
In addition, prosecutors and investigators are getting a clearer picture on possibly bringing manslaughter charges against people responsible for ensuring safety at the 26-story demolition site at 130 Liberty St.
They include monitors who should have discovered that a potentially lifesaving standpipe hanging loosely from the basement's ceiling had been removed by workers before the fatal Aug. 18 blaze.
The pipe's destruction left the structure without water, which led to the deaths of Beddia, 53 and Graffagnino, 33, on the upper floors of the doomed building.
Although the FDNY did not conduct its own inspections of the building in the months before the blaze, no fire official is expected to face sanctions.
The sources declined to identity the companies or individuals the panel is probing.
The construction site's manager, Bovis Lend Lease Corp., which was contracted by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. to oversee the entire $150 million project, retained the John Galt Company to demolish the building and remove hazardous materials from it.
The LMDC, which purchased the land and the building for $90 million, was under pressure to get the demolition moving because the building was slated to be replaced with a new structure and remained a bitter eyesore next to Ground Zero.
"They were in a bind and wanted it done," one of the sources said.
"They did not ask too many questions, and that may be why there was room for f- - -ing around."
As it turned out, Galt was little more than a corporate entity utilizing officials from two other companies working on the site: Regional Scaffolding and Hoisting Co., and Safeway Environmental Corp., which had its own questionable histories and little experience.
One of Safeway's officials, Harold Greenberg, was identified as a Gambino crime associate who had twice gone to federal prison for industry-related crimes - once for trying to bribe a federal inspector, and another time for a bid-rigging scheme.
A Galt official hung up when reached by The Post, and Safeway officials declined comment.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/01102008/news/regionalnews/da_eyes_deutsche_money_fraud_454804.htm
By MURRAY WEISS - Criminal Justice Editor
January 10, 2008 -- Hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars earmarked for the demolition of the Deutsche Bank building may have been ripped off, The Post has learned.
The revelation deepens the scandal surrounding the cursed building, where firefighters Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino wre killed in a blaze last summer.
The money trail emerging from a mountain of more than 1 million pages of subpoenaed financial records and documents - has already led to a questionable pattern of corporate and bank transfers involving hundreds of thousands of dollars, law-enforcement sources said.
Some of the funds have passed into companies that prosecutors and city investigators suspect are "shell" businesses created on paper to mask the ultimate destinations of the money.
The disclosure raises the possibility that cash may have been diverted and used for a number of illicit reasons including:
Lining the pockets of company officials or employees whose existence was unknown to city and state officials.
Kicking back money to people involved in the contracting process.
Making payments under the table so recipients could avoid taxes.
"Hundreds of thousands of dollars has been seen so far going south," one source said. "The question is, where was it going and where did it end up?"
The probe, conducted by the Manhattan DA and the city, has prompted a grand jury - which had been gathering once a week to investigate the fire - to now meet twice a week to hear the mounting evidence.
The DA's presentation is expected to take months to complete, the sources said.
In addition, prosecutors and investigators are getting a clearer picture on possibly bringing manslaughter charges against people responsible for ensuring safety at the 26-story demolition site at 130 Liberty St.
They include monitors who should have discovered that a potentially lifesaving standpipe hanging loosely from the basement's ceiling had been removed by workers before the fatal Aug. 18 blaze.
The pipe's destruction left the structure without water, which led to the deaths of Beddia, 53 and Graffagnino, 33, on the upper floors of the doomed building.
Although the FDNY did not conduct its own inspections of the building in the months before the blaze, no fire official is expected to face sanctions.
The sources declined to identity the companies or individuals the panel is probing.
The construction site's manager, Bovis Lend Lease Corp., which was contracted by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. to oversee the entire $150 million project, retained the John Galt Company to demolish the building and remove hazardous materials from it.
The LMDC, which purchased the land and the building for $90 million, was under pressure to get the demolition moving because the building was slated to be replaced with a new structure and remained a bitter eyesore next to Ground Zero.
"They were in a bind and wanted it done," one of the sources said.
"They did not ask too many questions, and that may be why there was room for f- - -ing around."
As it turned out, Galt was little more than a corporate entity utilizing officials from two other companies working on the site: Regional Scaffolding and Hoisting Co., and Safeway Environmental Corp., which had its own questionable histories and little experience.
One of Safeway's officials, Harold Greenberg, was identified as a Gambino crime associate who had twice gone to federal prison for industry-related crimes - once for trying to bribe a federal inspector, and another time for a bid-rigging scheme.
A Galt official hung up when reached by The Post, and Safeway officials declined comment.