A former executive at a construction colossus that helped build Citi Field and the Sept. 11 Memorial was sentenced today to two years probation for participating in a decades-long billing scheme that fleeced clients out of millions of dollars.
James Abadie, who headed the New York office of Lend Lease – a firm previously known as Bovis Lend Lease – avoided jail time, but must pay a $750,000 fine and perform 750 hours of community service, because he cooperated with federal investigators against his former firm.
Abadie, 55, of Cortlandt Manor, NY, had faced up to two decades behind bars, but he cooperated with Brooklyn federal prosecutors who today praised his assistance during the criminal probe.
The feds say that between 1999 and 2009, Lend Lease routinely overcharged clients by tacking on one to two hours to every shift that essentially represented a secret bonus for its foremen.
The firm also billed its customers for time, even though workers were away on vacation or out sick.
It was a practice that Abadie inherited when he joined the company, but he conceded that he did nothing to stop it – even though he “knew it was wrong.”
Addressing a full gallery in Brooklyn federal court today, Abadie told Judge Allyne Ross that he had learned his lesson.
“Please allow me to use this painfully acquired knowledge to be a mentor to the industry,” he said.
Lend Lease’s scheming raised costs at construction projects to build or refurbish Citi Field, Grand Central Terminal, the Deutsche Bank building, the US District Courthouse in Brooklyn, and the US Post Office overlooking Brooklyn’s Cadman Plaza, officials said.
The firm has already agreed to pay as much as $56 million to settle the charges – with more than $40 million of that payment representing a penalty – and is implementing a series of reforms, officials said.
John Hyers, Sr., 66, the former general superintendent and director of field operations for Bovis’s New York office, also pleaded guilty in May to charges stemming from the case.
He faces up to 20 years in prison at sentencing on the conspiracy charge,.
But because Hyers signed a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, he likely faces less time.
Bovis previously paid more than $5 million for safety violations following the deadly Deutsche Bank fire, which killed two firemen in 2007.
mmaddux@nypost.com