Former B&B Treasurer Sentenced to Six Months in Prison
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A former executive of a local contracting and development company was sentenced to six months in prison for his involvement in a corporate fraud case.
Sam DeCaria, ex-treasurer of B&B Construction & Development Inc., based in Liberty Township, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Cleveland on Thursday afternoon.
In addition to prison time, Judge J. Philip Calabrese sentenced DeCaria to six months of house arrest.
DeCaria, along with ex-B&B President and CEO Philip Beshara, were charged Oct. 5, 2022, with one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The pair pleaded guilty to the charges a week later.
On Tuesday, Beshara was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison for stealing nearly $2 million from the company. He and DeCaria are also ordered to pay $1.95 million in restitution.
According to a bill of information that was filed in October, Beshara and DeCaria engaged in a conspiracy that diverted funds from B&B business accounts to Beshara’s personal account.
According to court documents, prosecutors showed 44 transactions between March 7, 2008, and June 14, 2016, totaling $1,599,598.95 that transferred to Beshara.
Beshara oversaw invoices submitted by subcontractors that worked on construction projects managed by B&B. Beshara would then “cause others to inflate subcontractors’ invoices” so that those contractors would overcharge B&B, according to the bill of information.
Beshara would then have those subcontractors kick back to him a portion of the inflated amount, the court filing says. Beshara received $345,367.
DeCaria, as treasurer, was also charged because he managed the financial accounts and facilitated the scheme, prosecutors say.
In 2017 and 2018, B&B filed civil complaints in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court against Beshara and other former employees, accusing them of theft, records tampering and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.
Those lawsuits were settled in 2020, which allowed the company to continue as a going concern.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
