Navillus Executives Convicted of Embezzlement in New York
Navillus Construction Executives, Donal O’Sullivan, Padraig Naughton, and Helen O’Sullivan, were convicted of embezzling from union benefits funds in New York. The verdicts were delivered in federal court in Brooklyn on [date] by United States District Judge Pamela K. Chen.
The executives were charged with 11 counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, embezzlement from employee benefits funds, submission of false remittance reports to union benefits funds, and conspiracy to commit those crimes.
The scheme, which lasted from 2011 to 2017, involved placing some of Navillus’s workers on the payroll of another company, the Consulting Company, to avoid making required contributions to union benefits funds.
Donal O’Sullivan, 60, of Queens, New York; Padraig Naughton, 49, of New York, New York; and Helen O’Sullivan, 61, of Queens, New York, face up to 20 years in prison when sentenced.
United States Attorney Breon Peace announced the verdict, stating that the defendants deliberately devised a fraudulent scheme to avoid making required contributions to union benefits funds.
The case is being handled by the Office’s Public Integrity Section, with Assistant United States Attorneys Turner Buford and Meredith Arfa, and Special Assistant United States Attorney Virginia Nguyen in charge of the prosecution.
Navillus was a signatory to multiple collective bargaining agreements that required the company to make contributions to union benefits funds, such as health, pension, and vacation funds, for all “covered work” performed by its workers at construction sites.
The defendants engaged in a scheme to avoid making these required contributions by placing some of Navillus’s workers on the payroll of another company, the Consulting Company.
The Consulting Company then issued weekly paychecks to those Navillus workers for work they did on Navillus construction jobs. To conceal the scheme from benefits fund auditors, the defendants caused the Consulting Company to issue fraudulent invoices to disguise the fact that the funds Navillus had issued to the Consulting Firm were made to reimburse the Consulting Company for the wages the Consulting Company had paid to Navillus workers.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Public Integrity Section, with Assistant United States Attorneys Turner Buford and Meredith Arfa, and Special Assistant United States Attorney Virginia Nguyen in charge of the prosecution.
Navillus was a signatory to multiple collective bargaining agreements that required the company to make contributions to union benefits funds, such as health, pension, and vacation funds, for all “covered work” performed by its workers at construction sites.
The defendants engaged in a scheme to avoid making these required contributions by placing some of Navillus’s workers on the payroll of another company, the Consulting Company.
The Consulting Company then issued weekly paychecks to those Navillus workers for work they did on Navillus construction jobs. To conceal the scheme from benefits fund auditors, the defendants caused the Consulting Company to issue fraudulent invoices to disguise the fact that the funds Navillus had issued to the Consulting Firm were made to reimburse the Consulting Company for the wages the Consulting Company had paid to Navillus workers.
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Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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