Dive Brief:

• The project manager for a brick-laying subcontractor on a New York City school rehabilitation project is charged with paying his workers less than they were entitled to, pocketing $143,209.25 and doctoring their records.
• According to the charges against Ali Syed, 44, of Roslyn Heights, N.Y., he would go to a check-cashing business in Jersey City, New Jersey, with checks from general contractor Volmar Construction Inc. for weekly draws and then pay four workers in cash at less than the rate they were supposed to get under city rules.
• The project involved converting a former Catholic school on State Island into city P.S. 59.

Dive Insight:

The amount that Syed was accused of taking was not massive compared to the $11.3 million that went into the project, but it is notable when a project manager is accused of cheating his own workers, not another contractor or the project owner.