Man Convicted of Exploiting USDOT DBE Program

Stamatios Kousisis and his employer, Alpha Painting and Construction, Inc., were found guilty by a jury of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, three counts of wire fraud, and 10 counts of making false statements. The illegal scheme involved the formation of a joint venture between two non-DBE painting companies, Alpha Painting and Construction and Liberty Maintenance, Inc.

Kousisis concocted a scheme to obtain and keep two Pennsylvania Department of Transportation contracts to rehabilitate two bridges in the Philadelphia area, the Girard Point Bridge and the 30th Street Station Bridge. These contracts required Kousisis to use a qualified DBE to provide supplies for those projects. Operating through a joint venture between Liberty Maintenance and Alpha Painting, Kousisis employed a pass-through company, Markias, to give the appearance that they had contracted with a legitimate minority “regular dealer” when, in reality, Markias performed no legitimate or economically useful function.

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