A contractor who was charged in May 2023 for his part in a workers’ compensation fraud scheme was sentenced Dec. 14, 2023 to one-to-three years in state prison.
Sadaf Bhatti and his business, Anaar Construction & Contracting Corp., pleaded guilty Nov. 2, 2023 to Insurance Fraud in the First Degree for their roles in a workers’ compensation fraud scheme orchestrated by Steven Lyon, a certified public accountant.
Anaar Construction was sentenced to a three-year conditional discharge.
Lyon was sentenced on Oct. 19, 2023 to two-to-seven years in state prison after pleading guilty to three counts of Insurance Fraud in the First Degree.
Lyon’s and Bhatti’s scheme sought to defraud the New York State Insurance Fund (NYSIF) of more than $18 million. So far, $7.75 million in restitution was returned to NYSIF in connection with these cases, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Multiple other contractors, owners involved
Other contractors and their companies have also been sentenced for their roles in Lyon’s scheme, including:
- DNA Contracting LLC and Spring Safe & Sound Inc., which pleaded guilty to Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree and were sentenced to three-year conditional discharges
- OneTeam Restoration Inc. and its owner Mario Rojas Jr. who each pleaded guilty to one count of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree and were sentenced to three-year conditional discharges
- William Knight, who pleaded guilty to one count of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree and was sentenced to a three-year conditional discharge, and
- Antal Halasz, who pleaded guilty to one count of Criminal Facilitation in the Fourth Degree and was sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge.
Lyon started similar schemes with other companies
An investigation into Anaar Construction found that Bhatti used Lyon to complete “Premium Audits” despite Bhatti already having a private tax accountant. Lyon also acted as the company’s representative during NYSIF annual audits.
From March 10, 2018, to March 10, 2020, Lyon filed payroll-related documents that “drastically reduced the size of Anaar’s workforce and payroll.” Over the course of the scheme, Lyon underreported the company’s payroll by more than $4.5 million and underpaid NYSIF by more than $1.4 million.
Lyon acted in a similar capacity for Rojas and his business, leading to an underreported payroll of more than $16 million, and underpayment to NYSIF of more than $7 million.
Similar schemes were in place at DNA Contracting and Spring Safe & Sound leading to another $9.4 million in losses for NYSIF. Knight and Halasz, who also pleaded guilty to involvement in Lyon’s scheme, were executives with these companies.
