Three Irish executives found guilty of fraud face up to 20 years in US jail

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Three Irish Executives Found Guilty Of Fraud Face Up To 20 Years In Us Jail
Three Irish executives at a leading Irish-American construction firm face up to 20 years in jail after being convicted of fraud in New York.
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Three Irish executives at a leading Irish-American construction firm face up to 20 years in jail after being convicted of fraud in New York.

Navilus Contracting is one of the biggest building firms in the city and the main sponsor of the New York GAA teams.

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A jury in Brooklyn gave its verdict on Friday - returning guilty verdicts on 11 counts, including wire fraud, mail fraud, embezzlement and conspiracy.

Navilus's chief executive, 60-year-old Donal O'Sullivan, denied the charges throughout the three-week trial, as had the firm's payroll administrator, 61-year-old Helen O'Sullivan, and its financial controller, 49-year-old Padraig Naughton.

All three have addresses in New York City and the borough of Queens, and were indicted in July 2020.

Prosecutors had argued the three "deliberately devised a fraudulent scheme" to avoid paying into trade union benefit funds for its workers to cover the cost of healthcare, pensions and holidays.

The jury found that over the course of six years between 2011 and 2017, workers were paid through a second company which issued fraudulent invoices to conceal the scheme from auditors.

In a statement, the US Justice Department said it would continue to prosecute more such "blatant frauds" which it said are "harmful to workers".

Navilus Contracting was founded three decades ago by a group of Kerrymen, and has been involved in several high-profile building projects including the 9/11 Memorial.

The three are to be sentenced later, but prosecutors say the three executives now face up to 20 years in jail.

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