Investigations

On November 20, 2019, Frank Lizza, owner/officer of Intercounty Paving Associates, LLC (Intercounty), Westbury, New York, and Intercounty employee Ramon De Los Santos were indicted in U.S. District Court, Central Islip, New York. The two men were charged with embezzling employee benefit plans, submitting false retirement and union benefit statements, and making false statements to FAA.

 

Intercounty provided road construction and paving services to commercial and public customers throughout New York and New Jersey. Lizza was also an owner/operator of 4L Equipment Leasing (4L), a non-union company, which supplied trucks and drivers for Intercounty’s contracts. Around 2014, Lizza and others allegedly helped De Los Santos establish LR Safety Consultants and Construction Services, LLC (LR), purportedly to move construction materials and debris to and from construction sites. However, as the indictment alleges, LR did not own any trucks or equipment; instead, it used 4L trucks and employees to perform the work. De Los Santos allegedly entered his company into a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with Teamsters Local 282, which enabled LR to obtain federally funded road construction and airport contracts with prevailing wage requirements. The CBA prohibited the owners of LR from diverting work to non-union trucking companies unless they made payments to the workers and to the union benefit funds (UBF). In addition, Lizza, De Los Santos, and others allegedly schemed to defraud Local 282’s UBF by arranging to split truck drivers’ daily driving hours between LR’s union payroll and 4L’s non-union payroll; this occurred on on federally funded road repair projects. In furtherance of the scheme, Lizza and De Los Santos allegedly submitted falsified certified payrolls to FAA and the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey (PANY&NJ) in connection with a construction project.

 

DOT-OIG is conducting this investigation with the Department of Labor OIG, and PANY&NJ-OIG. The case is being prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.

 

Note: Indictments, informations, and complaints are only accusations by the Government. All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.