Embattled construction firm Omnibuild claims it is at risk of financial ruin and questions the credibility of a major witness against it in a letter its attorney wrote to the Manhattan district attorney’s office. The missive reveals new details about the criminal case against leaders at Omnibuild and developer HFZ.
The April 2 letter, written by Omnibuild’s attorney, Marc Agnifilo and recently obtained by Crain’s, asks the office to enter into nonprosecution agreements with the company and its former CEO, John Mingione, who stepped down from his position earlier this year amid the case. It claims Omnibuild has lost out on more than $1 billion in projects since the indictment and stands to lose even more, putting the retirement funds of its 140 employees at risk.
“To write a letter to the DA’s office at such an early stage of the proceeding is something I would only do when I really believed the client was not guilty,” Agnifilo told Crain’s. “Otherwise it would be really foolish and even reckless to do.”
One of the letter’s main arguments is that an unnamed subcontractor claiming Omnibuild told it to commit bank fraud is not a credible witness. The company was brought onto the job by HFZ’s head of construction, Anthony Marrone, who has also been indicted in the case, and it claims Omnibuild falsely inflated multiple bills for the developer’s luxury condo project known as the XI, according to the letter.
However, the subcontractor itself was the company that told Omnibuild it needed to increase the bills due to additional costs, the letter claims. It also complimented Omnibuild on its handling of the job in June 2020 and showed up to work on the XI even after Omnibuild told the subcontractors not to given all of the project’s financial problems, according to the letter.
One worker texted “this is going to be fun” to former HFZ managing principal, Nir Meir, the alleged mastermind of the $86 million fraud case, soon after Omnibuild directed its subcontractors to stop working, the letter says.
The letter questions HFZ’s relationship with its lender as well, claiming there is “overwhelming evidence that the lender knew that its money was being misappropriated and the subcontractors were not getting paid, and yet did absolutely nothing.” This is similar to the argument Omnibuild made in a $350 million civil lawsuit it recently filed against HFZ and its lenders, namely that its frequent warnings about financial troubles at the XI were ignored every time.
A representative for the Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to comment on the letter, saying the office would continue to make its arguments in court.
The office is still pushing for a felony plea from Mingione in the case, Agnifilo told Crain’s, which he claims “is just not warranted by the facts.”
Omnibuild CEO Peter Serpico echoed this in a statement.
“Instead of considering the evidence we provided after the indictment, which demonstrates our innocence and reveals that key witnesses lied in their testimony, the DA’s office has chosen to pursue the dismantling of a great company,” he said.
Eddie Small , 2024-06-11 21:23:12
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