Forgery and Wage Theft: Playground Contractors Hit With Massive Fines | THE CITY — NYC News
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The renovation of the Hunts Point Park Playground was at the center of a wage theft investigation, April 30, 2026. Credit: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
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Two contractors robbed workers of hundreds of thousands of dollars in wages through kickbacks, forgery and wage theft as they renovated a playground in The Bronx, officials say.
It took years for the city comptroller’s office and the Parks Department to claw back the money after an audit found that 24 workers on the Hunts Point Playground redevelopment hadn’t been paid the prevailing wage.
The two companies and the prime contractor of the project agreed to jointly pay $618,495.40 in back pay and civil penalties as part of a settlement announced Thursday.
“At a time when the federal government is rolling back labor protections, the work of our Bureau of Labor Law is that much more important,” Comptroller Mark Levine said.
A joint investigation by the comptroller’s office and the Parks Department found that the two companies, Green Builders Group of NY Corp. and Amin Electrical Corp., failed to pay workers the prevailing wage, forged their signatures on affidavits, and ordered workers to pay kickbacks.
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The two companies and the prime contractor of the project, D & S Restoration, agreed to pay a combined $427,468.24 in restitution to the workers, plus $89,263.93 in interest, in addition to more than $100,000 in penalties and legal fees to the city. The comptroller’s office also debarred Green Builders and Amin Electrical, meaning no city agency can hire them or subcontract them.
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Parks and the comptroller’s office began investigating in late 2017 after they received worker complaints. The investigation was complicated by the sheer volume of falsified records and because both firms refused to cooperate, said Claudia Henríquez, the comptroller’s labor bureau chief.
Two Green Builders operators pleaded guilty in 2024 to federal conspiracy to commit wire fraud charges and were sentenced to probation. Those charges were not related to the city’s wage theft investigation, said Henríquez.
The firm has a long history with the city. In 2020, NYCHA awarded Green Builders a $10.4 million no-bid contract for emergency COVID ventilation efforts at a number of public housing complexes — but the work was held up after the Department of Investigation found the firm had a history of alleged safety and financial problems, THE CITY reported at the time.
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Attempts to reach Green Builders and Amin Electrical through their publicly listed phone numbers were not successful. A person who answered the phone number for D & S Restoration hung up after a reporter for THE CITY identified herself.
Prevailing wages and benefits are rates employers must pay workers on publicly funded construction and building service projects, set and enforced by the city comptroller....