Conviction for 2 South Floridians Accused of Lowballing Public Housing Bids
A jury has convicted the brothers operating the Aaron Construction Group for deflating their bids to land public housing repair contracts.
March 01, 2019 at 02:43 PM
3 minute read
U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro, Southern Distrtict of Florida. Photo: J. Albert Diaz/ALM
A federal jury has convicted two construction company executives for lowballing their labor costs and providing other false information to win public housing contracts in Miami-Dade County.
Attorneys for Javier Estepa of Davie and Diego Alejandro Estepa Vasquez of Boca Raton said in public statements and court filings that their clients did nothing wrong.
Estepa, 48, and Vasquez, 37, were convicted Wednesday of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and making false statements to a federal agency. The two brothers headed Hialeah Gardens-based Aaron Construction Group Inc.
They were accused of filing applications for repairs and renovations that undercounted their costs and work hours, and blended company and subcontractors' employees to beat competitors for contracts with the Miami-Dade County Department of Public Housing and Community Development from June 2014 to December 2016. The county paid them more than $3.9 million.
The worker undercount allowed the brothers to show lower workers' compensation insurance premiums and payroll taxes.
The housing agency, which receives federal funds, selects the lowest bidders as long as other terms and conditions are met.
The defense attorneys argued the indictment was based on an inaccurate theory that subcontractors' workers couldn't be temporary Aaron Construction workers.
“While hiring the subcontractor's employees was a novel practice, there was no authority to preclude it,” Neil Taylor, Estepa's attorney, and Susy Ribero-Ayala, Vasquez's attorney, wrote in a joint motion filed Jan. 30.
The wire fraud counts stemmed from transfers by the county to Bank of America accounts registered to Aaron Construction.
The indictment was amended twice, with the final version adding a witness tampering count against Estepa. He was acquitted of that count.
“My client regrets the outcome of the case. However, he feels Judge Ungaro gave him an imminently fair trial and that the prosecutors conducted themselves as consummate professionals,” Taylor said Friday.
Ribero-Ayala of The Law Office of Susy Ribero-Ayala in Coral Gables didn't return a request for comment by deadline.
Related stories:
South Florida Contractors Charged With Deflating Bids to Scoop Public Housing Contracts
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