Employees' Wages Withheld, Company Owners Charged

PORT CHESTER, NY — The owners of a Port Chester-based company was arrested and indicted for failing to pay employees thousands of dollars in wages. Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said Donato Pagnotta and Giovanni Dilullo, owners of J&D Painting Contractors Corp., allegedly stole nearly $20,000 in money owed their workers.

“My office has zero tolerance for employers who exploit their workers,” Schneiderman said. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

“The defendants stole thousands in wages that these workers earned. We’ll continue to use eery tool at our disposal to ensure New York’s workers are treated with fairness and dignity,” he said.

According to the indictments and statements made at the arraignment, Pagnotta and Dilullo employed workers for painting and maintenance services in several locations throughout Westchester County between May 2016 and January 2017.

Investigators said the employees were repeatedly promised payment at the end of each 40-hour week, but were strung along by the two men, who kept promising that they would pay the owed wages the following week.

The defendants’ scheme of failing to pay, and thus stealing workers’ wages, deprived six workers of nearly $20,000 in wages.

Pagnotta and Dilullo also failed to contribute to the Unemployment Insurance Fund during the second, third and fourth quarters of 2016, officials said.

Pagnotta, Dilullo and J&D were charged with four counts of third-degree grand larceny, two counts of fourth degree grand larceny and one count of scheme to defraud, felonies, and six counts of failure to pay wages in accordance with the labor law and three counts of failure to make required contribution to the Unemployment Insurance Fund, misdemeanors.

Pagnotta and Dilullo were released on their own recognizance and are scheduled to return to court Oct. 5.

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