Their CityTime is up.
A Manhattan jury on Friday found Mark Mazer, the mastermind behind the massive CityTime payroll scam, and his two trusted accomplices guilty of conspiring to defraud a taxpayer-funded, $700 million project to modernize the city’s payroll system.
The trio – who prosecutors claimed “treated the city like their own giant ATM machine” — were busted three years ago following an investigation by the city’s Department of Investigation.
“These defendants extracted millions of dollars from the city’s taxpayers behind a smokescreen of shell companies and sham transactions, “ said city DOI Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn afterwards. “This result is a win for the taxpayers.”
Mazer was found guilty of wire fraud, bribery, money laundering and other charges, and he faces up to life in prison when he’s sentenced March 12.
Gerard Denault, who was program manager for the system’s primary contractor Science Applications International Corporation, also faces up to life in prison. He faced similar charges to Mazer but was cleared by the jury of bribery charges.
Mazer’s uncle Dimitry Aronshtein, a subcontractor for CityTime, was convicted on bribery charges and conspiracy to violate the federal Travel Act. He faces up to 20 years in the slammer.
The government alleges Mazer pocketed $30 million through the kickback scheme while Denault made $9 million and Aronshtin $5 million.
Assistant US Attorney Howard Seth Master said the government would seek “an extremely substantial sentence against Mazer” and even accused him of committing perjury for allegedly lying in an August suppression hearing.
The three defendants were released on bail and will be subjected to home arrest until their sentencings. Their lawyers said they’d appeal the verdicts.
SAIC last year paid the city $500 million to avoid prosecution for profiting from the scandal, in which the cost of a new, high-tech municipal payroll system ballooned from $63 million to $700 million.