Contractor Convicted In $800K Fraud Scheme Out Of Northwest Suburbs

BLOOMINGDALE, IL — A man who worked for a northwest suburban excavation company has been convicted of paying kickbacks to a local highway commissioner in exchange for the approval of hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent invoices, according to federal officials.

Mario Giannini worked at Bloomingdale-based Bulldog Earth Movers Inc., authorities said, and from 2012-2020, paid more than $280,000 in kickbacks to Bloomingdale Township Road District Commissioner Robert Czernek in exchange for invoice payment approvals.

“Czernek would leave handwritten notes for Giannini in predetermined places around the Bloomingdale Township Highway Department office and grounds identifying the information that Bulldog needed to include in the fraudulent invoices,” said a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Ilinois. “Czernek later approved the invoices knowing that much of the work and services were never performed.”

The scheme resulted in Bloomingdale Township issuing more than $800,000 in checks to Bulldog, according to the news release.

A jury on Monday convicted Giannini, 60, of Bloomingdale, of 14 wire fraud counts, each punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison, the news release said. Giannini’s sentencing is set for Sept. 7.

Czernek, also of Bloomingdale, pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of wire fraud and admitted accepting kickbacks and approving fraudulent invoices, according to the news release. Czernek agreed to forfeit several items he received through the scheme, including a 2014 Lexus RX350, a 1966 Buick Wildcat and a 1981 Corvette, the news release said.

A third defendant, Debra Fazio, of Bloomingdale, was acquitted, according to the news release.