FindLaw |

Legal News & Information

'Big Dig' Contractor Facing Billing Fraud Charges in Boston

The main contractor for the Boston highway building project known as the "Big Dig" overbilled the government for more than $300,000 in labor costs, according to criminal charges filed in Massachusetts federal court.

Boston-based McCourt Construction Co. and President Ryan McCourt were charged in separate criminal informations filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts with conspiracy to defraud the government.

Prosecutors accuse the defendants of billing the Federal Highway Administration project for journeyman construction workers when McCourt actually used less expensive apprentices.

The alleged false billing occurred from 2002 to 2005 and involved more than 1,500 false claims for a loss to the government of more than $300,000, according to prosecutors.

The Big Dig is a highway building project in the Boston metropolitan area that broke ground in 1991 and remains ongoing. Its contractors and suppliers have been in the crosshairs of federal and state law enforcement since at least July 11, 2006, when a tunnel ceiling collapsed, killing a passing motorist.

Since then authorities have filed false-billing charges against Aggregate Industries and several executives with McCourt subsidiary Massachusetts Electric Construction Co.

Aggregate pleaded guilty to government billing-fraud conspiracy in Boston federal court last year, and the Massachusetts Electric executives pleaded guilty in the same court to journeyman/apprentice labor cost fraud.

Earlier this year Big Dig management consultants Bechtel Infrastructure Corp. and Parsons Brinkerhoff Quade & Douglas Inc. reached a $407 million settlement of a civil whistle-blower suit and potential criminal charges.

The whistle-blower action charged the two companies with violating the False Claims Act by charging for faulty work on the project.

Under terms of the Jan. 23 deal, Bechtel will pay $357.1 million and Parsons Brinkerhoff will pay $50 million.

Prosecutors say McCourt Construction faces a fine of more than $600,000 if convicted on the conspiracy charge, while Ryan McCourt could receive a maximum five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

To comment, ask questions or contribute articles, contact West.Andrews.Editor@Thomson.com.