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New York Attorney General Letitia James announced on Friday, March 19 that her office has recovered $1.875 million from V.J. Associates Inc. (VJA) of Suffolk after reaching a settlement for falsely inflating bills on projects in New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts.
Of the 1.875 million, $1,658,020 is going back to New York State.
The Hicksville-based company performed services as subcontractors on public works projects for the Metropolitan Transit Authority, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, New York City’s School Construction Authority, as well other government entities throughout the three states.
VJA performed those services under two types of contracts: time-and-expense contracts, under which VJA was paid for the hours it claimed its employees worked, and fixed-fee contracts, both of which they inflated illegally.
James said that between Jan. 1, 2013, and Aug. 29, 2018, VJA submitted false bills to contractors on certain time-and-expense public works projects where VJA employees worked from a VJA office rather than on-site, at government offices.
The company falsely bills for more hours on projects than its employees actually worked.
Specifically, James said, VJA billed hours that its employees spent performing administrative tasks unrelated to the projects for which they were billing; and hours that were excessive and unnecessary.
“Riders and taxpayers have a right to know that unscrupulous contractors will not rip off hard-earned tax dollars and fares dedicated to our public transportation system,” MTA Inspector General Carolyn Pokorny said. “Executives at V.J. Associates padded their invoices to the MTA in a failed attempt to steal precious dollars from New Yorkers.”
As part of the settlement, VJA admitted to submitting false bills and also agreed to be debarred from submitting bids or being awarded any public-work contracts with the state of New York, any municipality, or public body within the state.
“We demand contractors taking on public-works projects in the state of New York and billing our state to act with the highest levels of honesty,” James said. “V.J. Associates padded hours and bilked our state’s taxpayers out of hundreds of thousands of dollars for hours they never worked.
“Not only are we now recovering the ill-gotten gains of these fraudsters, but we are ensuring that V.J. Associates cannot bid on or be awarded another public-works contract with the state for at least five years.”
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