Paul Mancuso allegedly violated court order to stay out of asbestos business
In October 2008, Ronald Mancuso signed a plea agreement in which he admitted he was guilty of conspiracy to violate federal environmental laws concerning the removal and disposal of asbestos. Faced with five years in federal prison and up to $250,000 in fines, he agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors in a case involving his father and two brothers.
Paul Mancuso, his brother, pleaded guilty to asbestos disposal violations almost 10 years ago. In 2004, he pleaded guilty to insurance fraud in connection with his asbestos business. He is now accused of violating the court order that forbade him to take part in asbestos-related work again.
Prosecutors say that Paul Mancuso started up new asbestos removal companies, in violation of his court order, by concealing his involvement with them. In some cases, he used a relative in Florida to front the asbestos removal operations, having people impersonate the relative for New York projects. The federal indictment names several companies that are allegedly being run by Paul Mancuso, including A.E.G. Inc., Kodiak Construction Services, Inc. and Kodiak Environmental Services, Inc. Paul’s brother Steven Mancuso and his father Lester Mancuso have been charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States in connection with concealing his role in these companies.
In addition, Paul and Lester Mancuso have been charged with violation of federal environmental enforcement procedures and failure to make truthful or proper notification of asbestos removal plans and results. Improper asbestos removal work or documentation allegedly took place at a demolition site in Theresa, a demolition and renovation site in Carthage, a medical center in Watertown, a school in Marcellus, and John F. Hughes Elementary School in South Utica.
Lester Mancuso was charged because the indictment states he knowingly conducted or instructed others to conduct illegal asbestos abatement. Steven Mancuso was charged because he was allegedly aware of Paul’s previous convictions and helped him create fraudulent documents to make their asbestos activities appear legal; Steven Mancuso’s law office was listed as one of the locations from which the family ran their asbestos abatement business.
For the full story, go to The Observer-Dispatcher.
