Construction fraud impacts Peralta
NBC handled writing center, Bistro contracts
Ryan Villarreal
Issue date: 11/12/09 Last update: 11/12/09 at 11:11 AM PST
Section: News
The Peralta Community Colleges District has been drawn into the corruption scandal involving Oakland-based NBC General Contractors, whose owner Monica Ung is currently facing felony criminal charges for labor exploitation and insurance fraud.
NBC was awarded contracts by Peralta to perform work on the James Oliver Writing Center at Laney College, the Laney Bistro, and the Building A Renovation and Sidewalk Rehabilitation projects at the College of Alameda (CoA).
Since its completion, the writing center has had numerous problems with water leakages, malfunctioning a/c units and faulty wiring. The opening of the bistro, intended to be a student-run culinary facility, has been delayed several times and remains closed.
The projects at CoA were completed last month. At this moment, no problems have been reported.
Ung and her two associates, Joey Ruan and Tin Wai "Winnie" Wu, were arrested in May 2009, after having stolen an estimated $3.6 million from workers in unpaid wages and $1.5 million from California taxpayers in insurance fraud. They have since posted bail and have yet to go to trial.
Investigative reporter Robert Gammon of the East Bay Express detailed in the Aug. 26 feature story, "Monica's Victims," how Ung had been exploiting her workers for years and how she was eventually exposed.
The article states that NBC had performed work for various public agencies, including the Peralta District, as well as suggesting the possibility of legal action against these institutions for failure to enforce labor compliance laws upon NBC.
At the time of the article's publication, labor attorney Ellyn Moscowitz, representing the NBC workers, had already filed a class-action lawsuit against Ung and her associates. Moscowitz stated via e-mail that a civil court hearing will be held Nov. 13.
She also said that her firm has filed liens against Peralta in order to compensate NBC workers for unpaid wages, though she did not give the amount of the liens.
NBC was awarded contracts by Peralta to perform work on the James Oliver Writing Center at Laney College, the Laney Bistro, and the Building A Renovation and Sidewalk Rehabilitation projects at the College of Alameda (CoA).
Since its completion, the writing center has had numerous problems with water leakages, malfunctioning a/c units and faulty wiring. The opening of the bistro, intended to be a student-run culinary facility, has been delayed several times and remains closed.
The projects at CoA were completed last month. At this moment, no problems have been reported.
Ung and her two associates, Joey Ruan and Tin Wai "Winnie" Wu, were arrested in May 2009, after having stolen an estimated $3.6 million from workers in unpaid wages and $1.5 million from California taxpayers in insurance fraud. They have since posted bail and have yet to go to trial.
Investigative reporter Robert Gammon of the East Bay Express detailed in the Aug. 26 feature story, "Monica's Victims," how Ung had been exploiting her workers for years and how she was eventually exposed.
The article states that NBC had performed work for various public agencies, including the Peralta District, as well as suggesting the possibility of legal action against these institutions for failure to enforce labor compliance laws upon NBC.
At the time of the article's publication, labor attorney Ellyn Moscowitz, representing the NBC workers, had already filed a class-action lawsuit against Ung and her associates. Moscowitz stated via e-mail that a civil court hearing will be held Nov. 13.
She also said that her firm has filed liens against Peralta in order to compensate NBC workers for unpaid wages, though she did not give the amount of the liens.
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buddy
posted 11/24/09 @ 9:37 AM PST
dishing the dirt!
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