NYCHA Contractor Stole Wages From Workers, Prosecutors Says

CROWN HEIGHTS, NY — A contractor who cheated workers out of wages for two NYCHA projects paid those affected $650,000, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced.

Mehdi "Moris" Dayan was sentenced to three years probation Monday after he paid restitution to the 27 employees he pocketed wages from during the restoration of two NYCHA buildings in Crown Heights and Brownsville, prosecutors said.

"This case is especially outrageous in that the workers were told they were being cheated and were forced to lie about their wages to integrity inspectors in order to keep their jobs," Gonzalez said in a statement.

"Such abuse of hard-working laborers will not be tolerated in Brooklyn and will be criminally prosecuted."

In Dec. 2015, Dayan, 60, of Roslyn, N.Y., and his company EEC Group Tech Inc. won an $8 million contract to repair the exteriors and roofs of the Brown Houses in Crown Heights and Glenmore Plaza in Brownsville, prosecutors said.

From April 29, 2014 to Nov. 19, 2015, Dayan submitted payroll reports to NYCHA claiming he paid employees between $54 and $74 per hour, though really he only paid them $15 to $25 per hour and pocketed the rest of the money, prosecutors said. Some workers weren't paid for all the hours they spent on the projects.

Mohammed Miah, 60, owner of T&J Contracting Inc., and foreman Sharifullah Sowpon, 41, told workers to lie to integrity monitors and tell them they were being paid the right amount of money. They made them sign forms claiming the same, prosecutors said.

Dayan pleaded guilty to grand larceny and scheming to defraud in September, prosecutors said.

Miah, of Canarsie, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor Labor Law violation in October and his company forfeited its licenses and were banned from future city contracts, prosecutors said. Sowpon, of Canarsie, pleaded guilty to the same charge and was sentenced to a conditional discharge.

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