DOI INVESTIGATION LEADS TO ARREST OF OWNER OF SECURITY SERVICES COMPANY FOR MORE THAN $100,000 IN OVERBILLING OF THE SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION AUTHORITY

  Mark G. Peters, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation (“DOI”), in partnership with Queens County District Attorney Richard A. Brown, today issued the following statement on the arrest of the owner and president of First Alert Security Services, a corporation that provided security guards at School Construction Authority (“SCA”) construction sites, on charges of grand larceny and falsifying paperwork for allegedly overbilling SCA more than $100,000 for security guard services over nearly two and a half years. The Queens County District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the case.

 DOI Commissioner Mark G. Peters said, “This defendant stole over one hundred thousand dollars from SCA. He used his role as owner of his own company to falsely certify and submit payroll records and other documents, according to the charges. DOI thanks the Queens District Attorney’s Office for their prosecution of this case.”

 Queens County District Attorney Richard A. Brown said, “The defendant in this case was entrusted to safeguard the properties of the School Construction Authority. Instead, he is alleged to have used his access and position to con the system in order to line his pockets. This kind of criminality will not be tolerated in Queens County. I would like to thank Commissioner Peters and his office for their hard work on this case. My office will continue to partner with other law enforcement agencies to put a stop to these kinds of schemes.”

 ABDULLATEEF SANNI, 45, of Brooklyn, N.Y. was arrested today and charged with Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a class C felony; Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, a class E felony; and Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, a class E felony. Upon conviction, a class C felony is punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a class E felony is punishable by up to four years in prison.

  According to the criminal complaint and DOI’s investigation, from January 2015 through May 2017, SANNI submitted certified payroll records for security guards working on SCA construction sites, stating the workers were paid an hourly wage of $12.85 plus an hourly supplemental benefit of $4.56, totaling $17.41 paid to each worker. SANNI also confirmed to investigators in December 2017 that he in fact paid the hourly wages and benefits indicated in the certified payroll records filed with SCA. The investigation found that Employee Earnings Records for all security guards employed by SANNI indicated that most of the employees actually received total compensation of between $8.00 and $13.00 per hour. As a result of this underpayment of wages to workers, SANNI received $100,954 from SCA to which he was not entitled.

 In addition, according to the criminal complaint, SANNI also allegedly submitted documentation for hundreds of hours of security work that was supposedly performed by certain individuals at school construction sites, including certified payroll records and sign out logs. The investigation found that the signatures on those logs were fraudulent. SANNI’s company, First Alert, has since been disqualified from work with SCA.

 A criminal complaint is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty