Law Firm Got Big M.T.A. Fees In Troubled Job
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Last month, the deputy, Frederick Contini, pleaded guilty to defrauding the authority by billing it for nonexistent workers, a scheme that prosecutors said had robbed the authority of more than $5 million. Four other men associated with the project have pleaded guilty to similar charges. Three more are awaiting trial, and five years into the project, the building is still only two-thirds finished. ”This situation,” said Douglas Durst, one of New York City’s major owners of office towers, ”is a textbook example of what not to do in complicated real estate transaction.” Finding a Firm Mr. Wood’s law firm was picked to be outside counsel for the authority in April 1997 using the same sort of abbreviated process that was later used to pick some of the contractors who would work on the building. A year earlier, the authority had used a formal selection process to pick dozens of firms that specialized in various areas of the law, including commercial real estate law. But the authority’s general counsel told its board that some of the firms were declining assignments, and he got permission to add 10 firms, including Mr. Wood’s. More : query.nytimes.com |