Former manager accused of fraud in New York bridge project

By Ellen Wulfhorst NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former manager of a New York contracting company was accused on Friday of defrauding the state by falsely claiming to use a minority-owned steel supplier to win an $192-million contract to repair a major area suspension bridge, officials said. Aaron Tubbs allegedly set up a scheme in which the steel passed through a minority-owned business that was not the actual supplier, according to the criminal complaint announced by the Office of Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. The 2008 construction project on the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, which spans the East River connecting the New York City boroughs of the Bronx and Queens, was intended to replace one side's approach and repair the other. It was to include 7 percent participation by minority-owned businesses. "A major construction project was awarded precisely because it opened opportunities for minority-owned and women-owned businesses," Bharara said in the statement. "As alleged, these businesses were unlawfully bypassed and deprived of participation." The minority-owned business did not "meaningfully participate" in the bridge project and received only a small fraction of the money the contractor claimed it got, the statement said. Tubbs, 43, was charged with wire fraud and, if convicted, faces 20 years in prison, it said. The name of the company, where Tubbs was regional manager, was not released as it was not charged, said a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney. (Editing by Sandra Maler)