A Suffolk County contractor allegedly filed fraudulent documents and falsely posed as a woman-owned business when submitting bids for several municipal public works projects over the past year, authorities said.
Nicholas Analitis, a contractor from Massapequa, was arrested Aug. 17 and charged with multiple counts of criminal possession of a forged document, filing false instruments and failure to pay prevailing wages, Newsday reported. His company, Gorilla Contracting Group, was also charged.
Analitis allegedly offered fraudulent surety and performance bonds and forged the name of a woman to present her as the owner or managing partner — without her knowledge — when submitting bids to several Long Island municipalities for public works projects, according to the Suffolk County district attorney.
Analitis and Gorilla Contracting were also charged with failing to pay workers legally required supplemental benefits.
“These defendants filed false information in an attempt to win contracts over companies that play by the rules,” Suffolk District Attorney Timothy Sini said in a statement. “In the contracts they were awarded under false pretenses, which were funded with taxpayer dollars, they did not pay their workers their fair share. We will not tolerate the exploitation of workers in this county, particularly on the taxpayers’ dime.”
Anaitis maintains his innocence and claims not to even own Gorilla Contracting, according to his attorney, Lawrence Carrà.
“It appears that Mr. Analitis is improperly portrayed as the owner of the contracting company.” Carrà told the Long Island paper.
[Newsday] — Bill Egbert