A California construction company owner is getting jail time for felony workers’ compensation fraud and tax evasion as well as being ordered to pay back $176,000 to the State Compensation Insurance Fund (SCIF).
Marko Lukic pleaded no contest Oct. 19, 2023 to the charges against him, leading to 210 days in county jail and two years of formal probation for each violation, according to the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.
Along with the jail time and probation, Lukic was ordered to pay back $176,298 in restitution to SCIF and $39,631 to the Employment Development Department (EDD). He’s also liable for an additional $200,000 in penalties and interest to EDD.
2 separate investigations lead to charges
The California Department of Insurance began investigating Lukic in 2019 after receiving information that he was committing workers’ compensation insurance fraud at his business, Lukic Construction.
Investigators determined that Lukic misrepresented the number of employees working for Lukic Construction between 2015 and 2018, resulting in more than $170,000 in losses to SCIF for workers’ compensation insurance.
EDD opened an investigation into Lukic at the same time, finding that Lukic under-reported employee wages by more than $800,000 between 2015 and 2018, resulting in tax evasion of almost $40,000.
