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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
CONTACT: Erin Duggan |
STATEMENT ON VERDICT IN THE TESTWELL GROUP TRIAL |
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| Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., issued the following statement concerning the jury verdict in the case of the People v. The Testwell Group: “We thank the jurors for their extraordinarily long service and careful attention in this very important case, and we are pleased the jury found certain defendants guilty of the top charge, Enterprise Corruption, and related counts as well. “Testwell’s conduct was reprehensible not only for its pattern of theft and deception, but for its utter disregard for the safety of the public at large, motivated by profit. This prosecution – and the verdict – was important for two main reasons. First, this was not just a case about naked cheating. What made the conduct of the convicted defendants contemptible is that the public at large relied upon Testwell, as a full-service testing, inspection and quality control and assurance organization, to do the safety inspection work on important public construction projects for which it was paid. “Second, the investigation demonstrated the importance of good corporate citizens working in cooperation with this Office, to detect and prevent crime. Two victimized companies hired, at their own expense, project integrity monitors who uncovered the fraud and the victims alerted this Office to what they uncovered. Unlike the defendants, these companies put the safety of their projects and the public ahead of their bottom lines and have taken additional steps to ensure that their projects are safe. Good corporate citizens helped us in our effort to prevent construction fraud. “Today’s guilty verdicts should send a loud message to companies tempted to skirt safety requirements: This Office will aggressively investigate and prosecute this type of conduct to the fullest extent of the law. “I want to thank Assistant District Attorneys Diana Florence and Leah Keith, both assigned to the Labor Racketeering Unit – Construction Industry Strike Force, for their hard work in successfully prosecuting this difficult, complex and serious case. Ms. Florence and Ms. Keith were supervised by Unit Chief Assistant District Attorney Michael Scotto. “I would also like to thank the Inspector General of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Inspector General for the Dormitory Authority, the New York City Department of Investigation and its Commissioner, and the Inspector Generals of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York and the New York City School Construction Authority for their assistance to this Office during the investigation, as well as many of the victims themselves who reported discrepancies directly to us. This prosecution was a model of cooperation between the private sector, law enforcement and government.”
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