Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

05-2639, 05-2652, 05-2692 & 06-1485 U.S. v. Leahy

By: dmc-admin//October 9, 2006//

05-2639, 05-2652, 05-2692 & 06-1485 U.S. v. Leahy

By: dmc-admin//October 9, 2006//

Listen to this article

A contractor who obtained city MBE/WBE contracts by misrepresenting his company’s ownership is guilty of wire fraud, even if he fully performed the contracts.

“As the government clearly stated at oral argument, Chicago was aware that the services rendered by the MBEs or WBEs would not be the most efficient or the lowest-priced possible. Nonetheless, the ‘city was willing to pay these premiums [ ] to these MBE/WBE contractors in order to foster their growth and to permit them to earn a profit that they would otherwise not have access to on a purely open bidding system.’ A corollary of this proposition is that an efficient, established business, given the advantage of MBE/WBE status, would earn more than it would normally receive under a truly open bidding system, in which it would compete against similarly established companies with the same experience and efficiencies of scale. Duff was a highly experienced businessman who easily made substantial profits off the MBE/WBE contracts and paid the surplus to family members and associates who performed little or no work for the various entities under contract. At sentencing, the district court emphasized that the goal of Chicago’s program was fundamentally frustrated, remarking ‘it’s a double loss, the loss that we computed and the real loss to all the people that didn’t get this business, that didn’t get a chance to build their businesses, . . . that didn’t get a chance to become successful minority- and women-owned businesses, because this huge amount was diverted.’”

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Bucklo, J., Manion, J.

Polls

Should Steven Avery be granted a new evidentiary hearing?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Legal News

See All Legal News

WLJ People

Sea all WLJ People

Opinion Digests