DA’s Office Charges 2 Bay Area Construction Companies with Fraud and Conspiracy
CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA (June 27, 2023) — Individuals from two Bay Area construction companies, including Concord’s Atlas Pavers, have been arraigned on insurance fraud charges.
The charges include conspiring to misclassify workers to avoid paying workers’ compensation insurance, payroll taxes, and insurance premiums. The DA filed the charges with the court on March 8, 2023.
District Attorney Diana Becton said that “Prosecuting insurance fraud is about protecting workers, holding those responsible accountable, and stopping unlawful business schemes.”
The first complaint names 57-year-old Candido Silva, 42-year-old Itamar De Morais Junior, and 42-year-old Irma Ruiz-Alarcon of Atlas Pavers of Concord. It details how they unlawfully paid over $12 million to its unlicensed and misclassified construction crews from 2016 through 2019. The complaint also alleges that the defendants discussed a desire to avoid insurance with the State Compensation Insurance Fund (“SCIF”) because they knew that SCIF would require an audit of the company’s books.
Centrox charges
The second complaint named 62-year-old Christopher Ray Vieira and 60-year-old Gilbert Roland Guiotti. The charges indicate that Centrox Construction of San Bruno operated as a shell company. The business routed unlawful payments to unlicensed subcontractors for Atlas Pavers and others.
The DA has charged both men with the unlawful use of their CSLB license to aid and abet payments from companies advertising to consumers as licensed contractors to their unlicensed and misclassified subcontractor labor crews.
Moreover, the complaint alleges Centrox received a percentage for routing millions of dollars in payroll funds to unlicensed and misclassified subcontractor crews. This occurred while they fraudulently under-reported the worker’s total compensation amounts to SCIF.
The Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office, Contractors’ State Licensing Board, and the California Department of Insurance jointly conducted the investigation. California law requires contractors licensing of contractors in their specialized field. They must also obtain workers’ compensation insurance, and pay taxes.
To report violations, send an email to: DA-ReportFraud@contracostada.org