Four former Bloomberg employees among those indicted in kickback scheme

Four former employees at Michael Bloomberg’s financial media juggernaut have been indicted in an alleged multimillion-dollar kickback scheme where lucrative construction projects were awarded to contractors bidding to do work on Bloomberg offices, reports Mike Hayes of BuzzFeed.

Hayes reports, “Those charged include two senior Bloomberg LP executives and two lower-level employees. One of these former employees is Anthony Guzzone, Bloomberg’s former global head of construction.

“‘We thank the Manhattan District Attorney’s office for uncovering this scheme and for their diligent work and partnership on this investigation,’ Bloomberg LP spokesperson Ty Trippet told BuzzFeed News.

“The charges are the culmination of a more than yearlong investigation. In February 2018, the New York Times reported that New York State police and investigators from the Manhattan DA’s office raided Bloomberg headquarters in Manhattan, demanding access to the offices of Guzzone and another top executive. Investigators left with computers. After the raid — which also included the executives’ homes — they were fired.

“Guzzone and others were under investigation for allegedly inflating the costs of interior work contracts at Bloomberg properties, then taking a cut of the inflated fees paid by contractors who were in on the scheme.”

Read more here.