Construction honcho in Chicago Yashvant Patel indicted on $1.9 million cash wages scheme
CHICAGO: Yashvant C. Patel, 59, of St. Charles, the former president of a Southwest Side construction company in Chicago paid off-the-books cash wages to workers and under-reported their hours as part of a scheme to defraud the benefit funds of the employees’ labor union, according to a federal indictment unsealed here, on Friday.
While serving as president of My Baps Construction Corp., Patel paid less-than-union-scale wages to dozens of employees, including illegal aliens, in order to reduce the employer contributions to the benefit funds of the Construction and General Laborers’ District Council of Chicago and Vicinity, according to the indictment, according to the Justice Department.
Patel falsely reported that My Baps and a sister company, Vijay Construction Corp., owed approximately $600,000 less to the benefit funds and approximately $1.3 million less to the companies’ employees than what was required by collective-bargaining agreements with the union, the indictment states.
The indictment charges Patel with four counts of mail fraud and four counts of making false statements in documents required to be kept pursuant to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The indictment seeks forfeiture from Patel of $1.9 million.
http://www.americanbazaaronline.com/2015/08/11/indian-american-construction-honcho-in-chicago-indicted-on-1-9-million-cash-wages-scheme/