Tishman Construction, one of the nation’s leading contractors, admitted to overbilling clients over a decade and will pay $20 million in penalties and restitution.
The firm – the developer for One World Trade Center, The Plaza Hotel renovation and the expansion of the Javits Convention Center – charged more than $5 million in fees for hours its Local 79 labor foremen never worked, and at rates exceeding those agreed in the contract.
It entered into a deferred prosecution deal, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. Tishman, which was acquired by Aecom Technology Corp. for $245 million in 2010, also agreed to “far-reaching corporate reforms,” Bloomberg reported.
In 2012, another firm, Lend Lease Construction, agreed to pay $56 million in fines and restitution over claims it had overbilled clients over a 10-year period. [Bloomberg] — Ariel Stulberg