New York Concrete Firm Pays $211K in Workers’ Comp Fraud Case

July 16, 2008

The head of a Long Island brick and concrete firm has pleaded guilty to attempted insurance fraud and his company ordered to pay $211,000 in restitution to the New York State Insurance Fund (NYSIF) for concealing the number of workers employed by the company, the NYSIF said.

Augusto Fernandes and his daughter, Sonia Rodriguez, corporate officers for F&G Concrete and the F&G Concrete Corp, in Holstville, New York, were indicted by a Suffolk County Grand Jury last February following their arrests on felony fraud charges stemming from the case.

“NYSIF is vigilant about detecting premium fraud,” said David P. Wehner, CEO of the NYSIF. “This type of fraud is ripe for all kinds of abuses, hurting not only other business and the workers’ compensation system as a whole, but potentially leaving workers unprotected.”

Fernandes received a one-year conditional discharge in exchange for his guilty plea to attempted fraudulent practices as a misdemeanor in Suffolk County Court; charges against Rodriguez were dismissed. F&G Corp. received a three-year conditional discharge for insurance fraud in the second degree, a felony, and was ordered to the $211,057 in owed premium.

Investigators say information from employees and payroll records seized by the Suffolk County DA’s Insurance Crime Bureau showed the company concealed the actual number of workers it employed. As a result of these audits, F&G was billed for a lower premium amount by NYSIF for workers’ compensation insurance from 2004 to 2006.

Source: The New York State Insurance Fund

Topics New York Fraud Workers' Compensation

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