Former Employee of Mechanical Contractor Sentenced to Prison for Inflating Change Orders

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that WILLIAM SACCO, 49, of Pelham, New Hampshire, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport to three months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for his involvement in a construction project fraud scheme.  Judge Dooley also ordered Sacco to serve the first five months of supervised release in home confinement and to perform 50 hours of community service.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Sacco was a project manager for a Massachusetts-based mechanical contractor.  From June 2014 to December 2017, Sacco conspired to defraud his employer and the owners of certain projects he managed by inflating change orders on the projects.  As part of the conspiracy, a co-conspirator subcontractor, who owned an insulation company, made more than $200,000 in payments to Sacco and also for Sacco’s benefit, including payments for Sacco’s children’s college tuition, a graduation party, a Mac laptop, airline tickets, hotels and Sacco’s rent.  Sacco and the co-conspirator submitted inflated change orders to Sacco’s former employer to offset some of the costs of the payments the co-conspirator made to Sacco.

Sacco was arrested on November 22, 2021.  On February 14, 2022, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Judge Dooley ordered Sacco to pay restitution of $41,195.85, which was paid in full prior to the sentencing.

Sacco, who is released on a $50,000 bond, is required to report to prison on September 6.

This investigation has been conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David T. Huang, with assistance from the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, New York Office.