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Embattled Architect of the Capitol J. Brett Blanton could be getting one step closer to being forced out of his job after the outgoing 117th Congress finally proposed last-minute legislation that would make it easier for the Trump appointee to be removed from office following an Inspector... View full entry
The federal Architect of the Capitol is under scrutiny for ethics violations after apparently using his office to give “patriotic” private tours in the weeks leading up to the contentious elections of November 2020. The Washington Post is reporting that Trump appointee J. Brett Blanton is now... View full entry
Anthony Guzzone, former director of global construction at Bloomberg LP, has been sentenced to 38 months in federal prison for tax evasion stemming from his role in $6 million pay-to-play bribery schemes on Bloomberg construction projects in New York City. U.S. Department of Justice officials said Guzzone failed to report as income $1.45 million in illicit payments and gifts. — Construction Dive
According to Construction Dive, Guzzone must also pay $574,005 in outstanding taxes and interest and serve three years of supervised release after he completes his prison sentence. View full entry
A Fort Myers, Florida, contractor has been arrested and charged with attempting to defraud the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) meant to help keep workers employed during the coronavirus. Casey David Crowther, 35, has been charged with making a false statement to a lending institution. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison. — Construction Dive
Crowther received $2 million in funds from the PPP loan for his company, Target Roofing & Sheet Metal, and allegedly included misleading statements as to how the money would be used, stating that it would only be used for business purposes, Construction Dive reports. Shortly... View full entry
According to Architect's Journal (AJ), a Watford man has received seven convictions after falsely describing himself as an architect on LinkedIn and with Companies House, the Uk's registrar of companies. Sohail Chohan, the convicted man, who pleaded guilty, told AJ that his son set up... View full entry
Authorities in southern California have said two residents were convicted of more than 200 felony counts each after falsifying documents and conducting fraudulent construction projects on hundreds of homes.
...47-year-old Wilfrido Rodriguez of Downey and 45-year-old Ruben Gutierrez of Huntington Beach were convicted Wednesday after a civil engineering firm called into question the structural integrity of hundreds of homes.
— The San Diego Union-Tribune
According to The San Diego Union-Tribune, "Authorities say Palos Verdes Engineering Company contacted police suspecting two former employees were responsible for projects across 56 cities in Los Angeles, Ventura, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties." Driver's license photos of Ruben... View full entry
Paul Lyon, director of Warwickshire, Coventry and London-based company Lyson Architecture, was fined for referring to himself as a ‘Residential Architect’ on his website. He was also fined for using the Twitter handle @LysonArchitect ’despite having no architects at the pracitce’. — Architect's Journal
A US businessman has pleaded guilty in a case involving the fraudulent winning of federal government construction contracts intended for companies run by women, ethnic minorities, former servicemen and disabled people. — Global Construction Review
Thomas Brock is accused of taking advantage of his wife, an Air Force veteran with a service-connected disability, and his friend Cory Adams, who is black, to apply for military construction projects meant for minority-owned companies. His schemes ran from 2002 to 2013, and totaled around $... View full entry
Two men were hit with 487 counts on Wednesday in a complaint alleging they spent years running a scam that has potentially left hundreds of homeowners across Southern California with homes that may not be structurally sound. [...]
Huntington Beach resident Ruben Gutierrez, 43, and 46-year-old Wilfrido Rodriguez of Downey each face numerous counts of forgery, identity theft and grand theft in a scheme involving falsified documents and fraudulent engineering services [...].
— KTLA
"Rodriguez was an engineering drafter and Gutierrez was an architectural designer at Palos Verdes Engineering. Neither Rodriguez nor Gutierrez were licensed architects or civil engineers," a news release published by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said. "Investigators... View full entry
Paul J. Newman, 49, is the president of Cohesion Studios. He’s also facing charges in three counties for pretending to be an architect. According to New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Newman worked on numerous housing projects in the Capital Region despite being neither licensed... View full entry
A University of Waterloo employee secretly arranged for his mother to be paid $148,000 from the school’s coffers, his fraud trial heard Tuesday. Jeffrey Lederer is charged with fraud, theft and uttering forged documents.
He was employed by Waterloo until 2011, when he was asked to leave his position as general manager of the university’s architectural school.
— CTV News
Although he's no Bernie Madoff, just how does the former General Manager's illegal fund finagling rank in the annals of architectural rip-offs?Here's a tour of recent questionable architectural appropriations:Sean John rips off Pentagram's poster for Yale School of ArchitectureGetting ripped off... View full entry
