Investigations

On November 4, 2019, Michael A. Valenti III, former senior vice president of sales at Cinelli Iron & Metal Co. (CIMCO), was sentenced in U.S. District Court, Newark, New Jersey, to 30 months’ incarceration, a $5,000 fine, 3 years’ supervised release, and a $100 special court assessment. On November 6, David Barteck, CIMCO’s former chief financial officer, was sentenced in the same court to 5 years’ probation, including 8 months’ home detention, a $5,000 fine, and a $100 special court assessment.

 

CIMCO bought, transported, and resold scrap metal from construction sites and had multiple contracts with several DOT grantees, including the New York State Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). CIMCO hauled scrap metal from MTA’s depots and corporate jobsites, weighed the metal, and then purchased it from the contracting agencies based on its weight. Valenti and Barteck admitted that between approximately 1999 and March 2016, CIMCO fraudulently under-reported the weight of scrap metal hauls in order to pay less than the contractually obligated amounts. CIMCO also fraudulently altered the weight tickets that are required to obtain reimbursement and reduced scrap metal loads prior to weighing.

 

DOT-OIG conducted this investigation with the Department of Labor (DOL) OIG and the FBI.