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City Carting of Westchester, Inc. and its manager, 37-year-old Christopher Oxer of Darien, pleaded guilty on Tuesday, June 6 to submitting false financial records that hid more than $100,000 in company money that was spent at strip clubs, according to the Westchester County District Attorney's Office.
According to the DA's Office, City Carting held an annual $20 million contract with the county to manage and process waste and recyclables and was required to file financial records with Kroll Associates, an independent monitor that would ensure the company was following criminal and civil laws without influence from members or associates of organized crime.
These records, which were sent to Kroll and the Solid Waste Commission county regulatory agency, were the focus of the investigation that led to the discovery of the hidden expenses.
The DA's Office's investigation ultimately discovered that City Carting had submitted financial statements that concealed a total of $135,000 in transactions Oxer had made at strip clubs in New York City between 2018 and 2019. These transactions had all been made on the company's American Express credit card.
One such transaction included $40,000 that was spent in a single visit at one strip club establishment, officials said, adding that these expenditures were then entered into the company's accounting records as business expenses for items such as tires, tolls, equipment, and maintenance.
On Tuesday, City Carting pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted offering a false instrument for filing, a misdemeanor, while Oxer pleaded guilty to first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, a felony.
As a result of the convictions, Oxer will be sentenced to six months in prison on Wednesday, Aug. 2, which will run at the same time as his year-long sentence in federal prison for tax fraud charges related to his conduct.
Additionally, City Carting will be required to pay a $5,000 fine in addition to separate fines levied against it by the Westchester County government, which ended its contract with the company.
"This brazen misuse of taxpayer dollars is an abuse of public trust by a government contractor, and my office will continue to investigate and prosecute cases of public corruption and seek accountability for this kind of criminal conduct," Westchester County District Attorney Miriam Rocah said of the case.
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