LI Contractor Pleads Guilty To Multi-Million Dollar Sandy Scheme: DOJ

MINEOLA, NY — A Freeport-based contractor pleaded guilty on Thursday in connection to a fraud scheme involving Superstorm Sandy-damaged homes, prosecutors said.

Alexander Almaraz, owner of Design Concepts Group LLC, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said he used a scheme to induce homeowners to hire him and his business to repair their properties.

"After Hurricane Sandy turned their lives upside down, the individuals who hired Almaraz to repair their homes were further harmed by the defendant’s unconscionable fraudulent
scheme, which extended the time they were deprived of a livable home," Peace said.

According to court documents and Almaraz’s own admissions in court on Thursday, Almaraz entered contracts with homeowners who qualified to receive funds from New York Rising. As part of these contracts, Almaraz, 56, agreed to lift the victims’ homes and set them down on temporary support structures which would permit the foundations of the damaged homes to be removed and new foundations to be installed.

After the new foundations were installed, Almaraz was supposed to lower the homes and reconnect the homes’ appliances, federal prosecutors said.

Between October 2015 and June 2019, Almaraz agreed to lift the homes of at least 20 customers who had received NYR funding and who collectively paid him approximately $2.5 million, court documents state.

Almaraz convinced many of these victims to move out of their homes and pay him rent to live elsewhere, all the while neglecting their projects and causing greater loss.

Instead of performing the agreed-upon work, Almaraz used the victims’ monies to pay for personal expenses, including credit card bills, and purchasing a Lamborghini, prosecutors said.

Almaraz's fraudulent scheme caused more than $1.5 million in losses to New York Rising and his victims.

"Today’s plea holds Almaraz accountable for his greedy scheme, and the restitution he will be ordered to pay is a necessary step towards making his victims whole," Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said.

When sentenced, Almaraz faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and mandatory restitution to his victims.