Roofing company owner pleads guilty to conspiring to smuggle illegal aliens, insurance fraud
The owner of a Dayton, Ohio roofing company pleaded guilty last week to conspiring to bring illegal aliens to work for his company, and to conspiring to commit wire fraud by sending fraudulent invoices to insurance companies for his company’s work. The plea agreement includes imprisonment for up to 57 months, restitution in an amount to be determined by a court, and forfeiture of nearly $2 million in assets.
According to court documents, between 2004 and 2013, Gregory Oldiges, through his company, Williams Brothers Roofing and Siding, entered into at least 39 purported subcontracts with illegal aliens to perform roofing services in the Dayton area. Oldiges knew the illegal aliens were using false names and, in some instances, provided them with false names and documentation to use. Oldiges’ company also used fraudulent documentation to write off the illegal aliens’ labor costs on the corporate tax returns.
Between 2009 and 2012, the company invoiced its customers approximately $11.75 million for roofing work performed by its illegal workforce, for which it paid the illegal workers approximately $1.7 million.
Oldiges financed the smuggling of some of the illegal workers into the United States. He directed a company employee to give thousands of dollars in cash to a Texas subcontractor to bring workers to Dayton, knowing that the money would ultimately be paid to human smugglers. Oldiges recouped the smuggling fees by withholding a portion of the amount paid to illegal aliens.
Oldiges also defrauded insurance providers by submitting "dummy" or "duplicate" invoices to insurance companies that reflected amounts over and above the amount the company actually charged its customers.
"The schemes perpetuated by this defendant were pervasive, touching nearly every aspect of the business. These unscrupulous tactics clearly gave his company an unfair advantage over competitors," said Marlon Miller, a special agent in charge in the Detroit Homeland Security Investigations branch. "When companies engage in these types of schemes…businesses that play by the rules simply cannot compete."
"This case shows that the appearance of success can be a mask for a tangled financial web of lies," said Kathy Enstrom, a special agent in charge in the Cincinnati IRS’ Criminal Investigation Division. "Honest and law abiding citizens are fed up with the likes of those who use deceit and fraud to line their pockets with other people’s money."
U.S. Attorney Vipal Patel said, "Williams Brothers didn't just pay illegal workers....What makes this case rather unique is that you have a plethora of different illegal activities ongoing at the same time….This has sort of raised the specter, raised a question of what are other companies in the construction business doing in our community. We want to make sure that everybody's doing it right."
Read the ICE press release or Associated Press story.