Jul 10, 2008 7:30 pm US/Eastern
Pair Plead Guilty In Big Dig Fraud
BOSTON (AP) ―
Two former managers of a Big Dig contractor have pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to submit false bills for workers' time.
Ryan McCourt of Quincy and Kenneth Hartley of California pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to a single-count information charging them with conspiracy to commit fraud on a federal highway project.
Prosecutors said they falsely categorized apprentice ironworkers as higher-paid journeymen, overbilling the project by about $300,000 between 2002 and 2005.
Both men worked for the McCourt Construction Company Inc., which pleaded guilty earlier to the scheme. The company said the problem was "isolated" and "not consistent" with its commitment to integrity. McCourt Construction had a $245 million contract to do finish work on the Interstate 93 tunnel.
Hartley and Ryan McCourt are to be sentenced Oct. 1. The company's sentencing is set for Aug. 22.
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