![\"\"](\"http:\/\/chicagopressrelease.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/daley-ohare-modernization-chicago-293x300.jpg\" "\\"daley-ohare-modernization-chicago\\"")
The largest female-owned subcontractor on Mayor Daley\u2019s multibillion-dollar O\u2019Hare Modernization Project was hit with federal charges Thursday that accuse the company of illegally collecting more than $9.5 million in public contracts.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the first indictment in a wide-ranging investigation first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.<\/p>\n
Sources have said the probe includes Ald. Patrick Levar\u2019s brother, Michael, who once oversaw construction contracts at O\u2019Hare. <\/span><\/p>\n Michael Levar has not been charged.<\/p>\n Azteca Supply Co. is a certified minority- and woman-owned business, but federal authorities charge that even as it was hired to do contracting work on runway and restroom projects at O\u2019Hare, the company improperly subcontracted work to firms owned by white men.<\/p>\n Azteca president and owner Aurora Venegas, 61, was charged with five counts of mail fraud. Her husband, Thomas Masen, 65, was charged with two counts of mail fraud and one count of making false statements to an FBI agent.<\/p>\n Venegas was allegedly little more than a supplier of materials obtained from National Concrete Pipe Co., where her husband works as a comptroller.<\/p>\n When the FBI served a search warrant on National Concrete Pipe two years ago, the company president, John Esposito, 65, assaulted one of the FBI agents. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.<\/p>\n The investigation, conducted by the FBI, city Inspector General\u2019s Office and U.S. Attorney, found that Azteca fraudulently received more than $9.6 million between 2001 and July 2008, according to charges.<\/p>\n In that time, Azteca was hired to do O\u2019Hare work as well as a $57,168 in landscaping work for a new Metra station in Orland Park.<\/p>\n In 2007, the city awarded a $149.9 million runway contract to Kiewit\/Reyes AJV, and Azteca was one of the female-owned subcontractors hired to meet City Hall\u2019s requirements.<\/p>\n Azteca was supposed to provide concrete pipe, but National Concrete Pipe allegedly did the work. Kiewit\/Reyes spokesman Kent Grisham said the company was unaware that Azteca was subcontracting the work to a white-owned firm.<\/p>\n \u201cWe relied on the city and the city\u2019s certification of Azteca\u2019\u2019 as a female-owned company, Grisham said. \u201cWe\u2019ve done nothing wrong. We have cooperated in the investigation.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n In the Orland Park case, Venegas is accused of acting as a minority \u201cpass-through\u201d for subcontracting work, where Azteca allegedly secured the subcontract but really had another company do the work.<\/p>\n Joseph Duffy, an attorney for Azteca and Venegas, said Thursday he was disappointed with the charges, describing Venegas as a \u201chardworking and successful minority businesswoman since 1991.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe government\u2019s allegation that Ms. Venegas and Azteca are sham minority contractors arose out of claims made by a disgruntled former employee,\u201d Duffy said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cThese allegations are false, and Ms. Venegas is looking forward to vindication at trial.\u201d<\/p>\n An attorney for Masen could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n Read the original article from FOX Chicago News<\/a>.<\/p>\n The largest female-owned subcontractor on Mayor Daley\u2019s multibillion-dollar O\u2019Hare Modernization Project was hit with federal charges Thursday that accuse the company of illegally collecting more than $9.5 million in public contracts. It\u2019s the first indictment in a wide-ranging investigation first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times. Sources have said the probe includes Ald. Patrick Levar\u2019s brother, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-278763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278763\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/img><\/a>
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