Prosecutors didn’t pull any punches Wednesday while introducing a jury to the man on trial for allegedly masterminding the massive CityTime payroll scam, saying the scheme created so many millions of dollars in illicit cash for Mark Mazer and two trusted accomplices that they had to resort to moving it through “shell corporations.”
“Mark Mazer — $30 million. Gerard Denault — $9 million. Dimitry Aronshtein — $5 million. Ladies and gentlemen. That’s how much money these three men pocketed from a city project called CityTime,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Howard Master.
Mazer headed the program. Denault was program manager for the system’s primary contractor Science Applications International Corporation. Aronshtin is Mazer’s uncle and was a subcontractor for CityTime.
All three are on trial in Manhattan federal court.
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 more than $600 million.
“They lied, intimidated and exploited relationships to keep [the scheme] going,” Master charged.
Mazer’s lawyer, Gerald Shargel disagreed, saying “Not one dollar at the expense of the government was taken. Mazer didn’t take a dollar he wasn’t entitled to.”