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On Monday, Oct. 4, Long Island residents Patrick McCrann, age 57, of Selden, and Richard Zavada, age 65, of Hicksville, pleaded guilty to accepting the illegal payments, according to Jacquelyn Kasulis, acting United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York and Michael Driscoll, assistant director-in-charge of the FBI New York Field Office.
Last week, two other former employees of the same company, 48-year-old Ricardo Garcia and 36-year-old Jevan Seepaul, also pleaded guilty to accepting the bribes and kickbacks, Kasulis said.
“The defendants have admitted to accepting thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks for their own enrichment and to subverting the no-bid process for awarding contracts,” Kasulis said. “The Office will remain vigilant in prosecuting criminals who seek to enrich themselves at the expense of taxpayers and consumers.”
Kasulis said the contractor secured $50 million in facility maintenance contracts from the New York company during the period of time when the owners were paying bribes to the defendants.
"The Contractor understood that if it did not pay bribes, the defendants would award the Company’s work to the Contractor’s competitors," the US Attorney's Office said.
Kasulis said the illegal payments included the following:
- Cash
- The purchase of a recreational vehicle
- Home improvements
- Landscaping
- An overseas vacation
During the investigation, authorities also recovered about $300,000 in cash from a safe deposit box Zavada held, Kasulis said.
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