As many as 70 construction workers may have received OSHA 30-hour certification cards without completing the required training.
Authorities have charged Junior Lewis of Queens, NY, with one count each of mail fraud and conspiring to defraud OSHA. If convicted, Lewis, an authorized OSHA trainer, faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on the mail fraud charge and five years on the conspiracy charge. He could also be fined up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain from the offense.
An undercover agent arranged on more than one occasion to buy multiple 30-hour OSHA training certification cards from Lewis. Authorities say Lewis has admitted he sold multiple certification cards to others in the construction industry over the past several months without requiring the workers to complete outreach training.
“Lewis potentially placed the well being of construction workers in jeopardy,” according to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
Lewis “dealt out phony training credentials as if they were playing cards … with no concern for safety of construction workers,” according to New York City Department of Investigation Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn.
