A worker at an excavation company in suburban Chicago has been convicted on charges alleging that he paid more than $280,000 in kickbacks to a local road commissioner in exchange for approval of fraudulent invoices for work that was never performed.

A federal jury in U.S. District Court in Chicago convicted Mario Giannini, 60, on 14 counts of wire fraud on June 13.

The 2020 indictment alleges that Giannini, who worked for Bulldog Earth Movers, Inc. in Bloomingdale, Ill., conspired between 2012 and 2020 with Robert Czernek, a former elected highway commissioner with Bloomingdale Township, to submit the fraudulent invoices for stone delivery, dump leveling and storm sewer work.

现年71岁的切尔内克（Czernek）今年早些时候对一项诚实服务欺诈罪认罪，同意在吉安尼尼（Giannini）的审判中合作并作证。

Prosecutors estimated that the fraud scheme resulted in Bloomingdale Township issuing more than $800,000 in checks to Bulldog for work that was not performed.

The owner of the firm and co-defendant, Debra Fazio, was acquitted of charges in the middle of the week-long trial after U.S. District马修·肯纳利（Matthew Kennelly）裁定，检察官没有证明法齐奥知道该计划或有意参加。

According to the indictment, Czernek hand-wrote notes containing false information that he wanted Giannini to include on invoices submitted by the company to the township.

“The notes included the description of storm sewer work purportedly performed by BEM, and the number of hours and the dates on which BEM purportedly performed certain dump leveling work, when Czernek knew this work had not been performed by BEM. Some of the notes included details about the amount of money which Czernek wanted to be paid in kickbacks," the indictment states.

The indictment also alleges that Czernek hid the notes in secluded locations at the Bloomingdale Township Highway Department building or construction yard where they were to be picked up by Giannini.

According to the indictment, each kickback was typically $5 or $6 for each ton of stone noted on the stone delivery invoices, 50% of the total invoice amount for storm sewer invoices and varied amounts for dump leveling invoices.

作为他认罪的一部分，Czernek同意没收从欺诈计划中得出的几项项目，其中包括2014年的Lexus RX350，1966年的1966年Buick Wildcat和1981年的Corvette。

Giannini is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 7. A sentencing date has not yet been set for Czernek.

Calls to Bulldog Earth Movers, to Bloomingdale Township and to Giannini's attorney were not returned by press time.