Contractor from Willowbrook Convicted of Defrauding Women-Owned Business Program

Chicago, IL — The owner of a certified Women’s Business Enterprise was convicted of fraud for falsifying paperwork that said her business worked on projects it didn’t work on.

After a four-day trial, a federal jury convicted Elizabeth Perino, 62 of Willowbrook, of mail fraud and three counts of wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois.

The maximum sentence for the conviction is 80 years in prison.

Perino let her business, Perdel Contracting Co. in Lockport, be claimed as a subcontractor on city projects so a general contractor could say it assigned part of the work to women-owned businesses, the U.S. Attorney's Office reports.

Perdel specializes in concrete and carpentry and qualified for city projects as a certified Disadvantaged Business Enterprise, in addition to being a certified Women’s Business Enterprise.

Perdel Contracting Co. expected to be paid an amount equal to a percentage of the work Perino fraudulently claimed it performed, though the company didn’t actually work on the projects, U.S. Attorney's Office reports.

The city of Chicago aims to award at least 5 percent of total annual funding of all city contracts to Women’s Business Enterprises, with the goal established by a city ordinance.

For contracts of more than $10,000, contractors have to give a percentage of labor to Women’s Business Enterprises as a joint venture, as a subcontractor or by buying goods or services from them.

Evidence at the trial alleged Perino and a co-worker let Perdel Contracting Co. pretend to work on two city projects as a Women’s Business Enterprise and a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise, though Perdel employees or equipment didn’t perform any work, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

For an O’Hare International Airport project, the general contractor’s employees were put on Perdel’s payroll for work credited to Perdel.

Perino also “entered into a sham contract” to buy street sweepers from the general contractor, the U.S. Attorney's Office reports. The sweepers were put in Perdel’s name, and the general contractor’s workers, who were sort of pretending to be Perdel workers, swept streets with them.

The street sweepers were to be sold back to the general contractor for $1 each.

Perdel expected to receive 18 percent and the labor costs and $20 an hour for the street sweepers.

U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman will set a later sentencing date.