A Manhattan construction official busted for site-safety fraud in 2014 was sentenced Tuesday to one to three years in prison for his part in a citywide scam that included sending hairdressers, cooks and bellhops — often hired off Craigslist — to impersonate licensed safety managers.
Richard Marini, 62, manager of the firm Avanti Building Consultants, was allowed to cop to a charge of grand larceny in a plea bargain last October.
He was one of several construction officials indicted for sending random people they hired via online postings to impersonate licensed safety managers at dozens of high-rise projects across Manhattan, including the Upper East Side, the Financial District and Gramercy Park.
The fraud scheme ran from at least as far back as 2012 through early 2014, when a Department of Buildings inspector unearthed a safety log carrying the signature of a man who had died the year before.
Along with jail time, Marini was ordered to pay $610,000 in restitution.
According to court documents, Marini was caught texting with an underling whom he directed to forge two days’ worth of safety records.
“Today’s sentencing should serve as a warning to those who might seek to cut corners in order to turn a quick profit in this real-estate market,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said in a statement.