Milford Man Accused Of Role In 'Fraud' Scheme: Feds

MILFORD, CT — A Milford man has been charged in connection to his alleged involvement in a construction project fraud scheme, federal authorities said in a news release.

Leonard C Boyle, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that a New Hampshire resident and a Connecticut resident have been charged in separate criminal complaints with conspiracy and fraud offenses stemming from their alleged involvement in construction project fraud schemes.

William Sacco, 48, of Pelham, New Hampshire, was arrested on Nov. 22 and is released on a $50,000 bond, authorities said.

As alleged in the criminal complaint, Sacco was a project manager for a Massachusetts-based mechanical contractor. From June 2014 through December 2018, Sacco conspired to defraud his employer and the owners of certain projects he managed by inflating change orders on the projects, officials said in a news release.

As part of the conspiracy, a co-conspirator subcontractor made payments to Sacco and also for Sacco’s benefit, including payments for Sacco’s children’s college tuition, a graduation party, a Mac laptop, airline tickets, hotels and Sacco’s rent, officials said.

Sacco and the co-conspirator submitted inflated change orders to Sacco’s employer to offset some of the costs of the payments the co-conspirator made to Sacco, federal authorities said.

In a separate case, Don Richards, 53, of Milford, Connecticut, was arrested on Oct. 19, 2021, on a criminal complaint. Richards was a senior project manager at a Massachusetts-based mechanical contractor.

It is alleged that from November 2014 through February 2018, Richards also conspired to defraud his employer and project owners by inflating change orders on certain projects he was managing, federal officials said.

As part of this separate conspiracy, a co-conspirator subcontractor made payments to Richards and also for Richards’s benefit, including gift cards and funds for a golf club membership, officials said in a news release.

Richards and the co-conspirator submitted inflated change orders to Richards’s employer to offset some of the costs of the payments the co-conspirator made to Richards, officials said in a news release.

Sacco and Richards are each charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud.
Richards is released on a $100,000 bond.