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Fairfield County resident Stephen Dinapoli, age 42, of Wilton, the principal of a Connecticut environmental consulting firm in Norwalk, pleaded guilty in federal court in Springfield in Hampden County for his role in paying bribes to procure consulting contracts at educational institutions in Massachusetts and New York.
Specifically, federal prosecutors said that Dinapoli pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and two counts of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds after being charged in August 2020.
Acting US Attorney Nathaniel Mendell said that Dinapoli is the principal of Big East Environmental, an environmental project management and consulting firm based in Connecticut.
From 2015 to 2019, Dinapoli paid cash bribes to co-conspirator Floyd Young, who held positions involving facility maintenance at three institutions including American International College (AIC) in Springfield, Mass.
Specifically, Dinapoli paid Young in cash during face-to-face meetings in order to obtain contracts for environmental consulting work at AIC, Cornell Tech, and Cooper Union in New York.
Mendell said that Young was charged in a separate case and, in August 2020, pleaded guilty to steering contracts for construction, repair, maintenance, and other work for the collegiate institutions to favored contractors, including Dinapoli, in exchange for bribe payments typically in the amount of 15 percent of the contract.
Dinapoli is scheduled to be sentenced in April 2022, when he will face up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.
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