Several Bloomberg L.P. executives are expected to be arrested on Tuesday after an investigation into fraud from within the company concludes.
Nearly two years ago, an investigation was opened by the Manhattan district attorney’s office into the city’s more than $62 billion construction industry. This time, it involved Bloomberg L.P., a privately held financial, data, software, and media company, owned by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
As investigators began to sift through contracts and records, they discovered that it was an inside job.
On Tuesday, the District Attorney’s Office and the state police are expected to arrest more than a dozen executives, including senior executives of Bloomberg’s global construction and facilities department on fraud, theft, and bribery charges, according to an executive who has been briefed on the investigation.
The insider scheme, which is considered to be pay-to-play, was centered around construction work that occurred at the company’s offices. Subcontractors and vendors are accused of paying bribes and kickbacks in many different forms over the course of four years to executives at Bloomberg and two executives employed by Turner Construction, a general contractor that oversaw work at Bloomberg.
Executives at Bloomberg, Turner, and some of the vendors then raised the cost of work by millions of dollars for Bloomberg.
At this time, there is no evidence that Michael Bloomberg, who is eyeing a potential 2020 run for president, knew about the fraud that was occurring in his office.
Bloomberg recently visited the state of Iowa, where he was not warmly embraced.
During his trip to the state to discuss wind energy, Bloomberg backtracked on his previous statements regarding his opposition to corn-based ethanol, one of Iowa’s major economic drivers.
Bloomberg once considered sugar-based ethanol to be safer for the environment but said one can make the argument that “ethanol is neutral” during his visit to Iowa.
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