An East Elmhurst man was sentenced to four years in prison in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for leading a scheme to defraud New York City in connection with homeless shelter contracts worth approximately $12 million.
Liaquat Cheema, 65, the president of AFL Construction Co. Inc. in Corona, pled guilty on March 5, 2024, to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. As part of his plea agreement, Cheema agreed to pay $3,267,811 in restitution and forfeiture.
According to the criminal complaint and indictment, AFL Construction, located at 106-11 Northern Blvd. in Corona, entered into contracts with the city worth approximately $12 million to perform general maintenance, landscaping, roofing and snow removal at homeless shelter sites. Between 2014 and 2017, Cheema and his co-defendants used the contracts to fraudulently enrich themselves and steal from the city by submitting bogus invoices and other documentation in support of requests for payment on the contracts, which falsely claimed that workers had performed on certain projects and inflated amounts paid by the defendants for materials purportedly used on such projects.
The fraudulent invoices and supporting documentation contained, without authorization, the identities of other persons, including the names, and in at least one case, the social security number, of purported workers who had not worked on projects specified in the requests for payments submitted by Cheema and his co-conspirators.
Cheema also obtained tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of Medicaid benefits by repeatedly submitting fraudulent certifications, which underreported their actual incomes and accordingly enabled them to obtain Medicaid benefits for which they were not eligible.
In support of requests for Medicaid benefits, Cheema and others repeatedly submitted nearly identical employment letters, which, among other misrepresentations, contained the name and purported signature of a “Project Manager” who, in fact, was deceased.
“Over three years, this defendant stole millions of dollars from the city, by overcharging for maintenance and other work that AFL was contracted to perform at city homeless shelters, through submission of falsified invoices and other documentation,” Department of Investigation (DOI) Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber said after Cheema was sentenced on Sept. 16. “Now he will serve 48 months in prison, because theft of funds intended to improve the housing available to city residents in need has serious consequences.”
U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield sentenced Cheema to four years in federal prison to be followed by two years of supervised release. Cheema is scheduled to surrender on Oct. 31.
“I thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and our federal law enforcement partners for their commitment to protect city funds,” Strauber said.
