New York Fund Receives $7.75 Million After Workers’ Compensation Fraud Prosecution

Law enforcement officials announced the final sentencing in their prosecution of an $18 million workers’ compensation fraud case and the return of $7.75 million to the New York State Insurance Fund (NYSIF).

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Jr. on Friday announced the sentencing of Sadaf Bhatti and his company, Anaar Construction & Contracting Corp., for participating in a scheme with certified public accountant Steven Lyon to defraud the New York State Insurance Fund (NYSIF) of more than $18 million.

Bhatti pleaded guilty to insurance fraud in November before a New York State Supreme Court.

Bhatti’s sentencing and the $7,750,000 in restitution for the NYSIF followed the sentencings of four other individuals and three other corporations charged in connection with the investigation.

On October 19, 2023, Lyon was sentenced to up to seven years in state prison after pleading guilty to insurance fraud. Lyon acted as the companies’ representative during NYSIF’s mandatory annual audits.

As admitted in the defendants’ guilty pleas, from January 1, 2019, to May 15, 2021, Lyon used separate email accounts to file payroll-related documents with the Department of Labor and NYSIF. While the filings submitted to DOL were accurate, the filings submitted to NYSIF were doctored to drastically reduce the size of the employers’ workforce.

NYSIF relied on these false documents to calculate workers’ compensation insurance premiums, grossly under-charging the employers as a result.

In the Anaar Construction case, the firm underreported its payroll by more than $4.5 million and underpaid NYSIF by more than $1.4 million.

Another target of prosecutors, Oneteam Restoration, Inc., a Long Island City-based masonry subcontractor, and its owner Mario Rojas, Jr., underreported payroll by more than $16 million, and underpaid NYSIF by more than $7 million. In May, Oneteam and Rojas each pleaded guilty to falsifying business records and were sentenced to three-year conditional discharges.

DNA Contracting, Spring Safe & Sound Inc. and William Knight also pleaded guilty to falsifying business records and were sentenced to a three-year conditional discharge.

In July, Antal Halasz pleaded guilty to criminal facilitation and was sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge.

“These business owners exploited their workers – primarily undocumented, vulnerable New Yorkers – by devaluing their payrolls and scheming to avoid insurance premiums,” said District Attorney Bragg. “Moreover, Steven Lyon abused his role as a certified public accountant, casting aside his fiscal duties at the expense of workers performing dangerous jobs.”

Topics New York Fraud Workers' Compensation Talent