Pennsylvania Contractor Pleads Guilty to Participating in Fraud Conspiracy at New York Presbyteria...( WASHINGTON April 11 -- A Pennsyl...),Health

WASHINGTON, April 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A Pennsylvania general contractor for residential and commercial buildings pleaded guilty today to conspiring to defraud New York Presbyterian Hospital (NYPH) for his role in a conspiracy to pay kickbacks to a former senior purchasing official at NYPH.

Aaron S. Weiner, of Meadowbrook, Pa., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, for participating in a conspiracy that took place from at least June 2004 to March 2005.

According to the charge, Weiner, through his company, Aaron Weiner Construction Inc. (AWC), acted as a conduit in a million-dollar kickback scheme. The owner of two construction companies located in New York City paid Weiner to pose as a consultant as a means to provide kickbacks to a former senior purchasing official at NYPH in return for awarding contracts that totaled at least $20 million. In order to further conceal the kickbacks paid to the purchasing official, payments were wired to AWC, who in turn wrote checks to a shell company formed by the former senior purchasing official in his mother's name. In total, about $1 million in kickbacks went through Weiner to the purchasing official.

"The Department of Justice will vigorously prosecute those who attempt to deprive nonprofit organizations of the benefit of the competitive process," said Thomas O. Barnett, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department's Antitrust Division.

The fraud conspiracy with which Weiner is charged carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.

In April 2007, as part of the same investigation, Michael Theodorobeakos and two maintenance and insulation companies he co-owned -- Monosis Inc. and STU Ass
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