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How The Forum covered Troiano’s arrest last December.
By Michael V. Cusenza
A Queens grand jury has indicted a Long Island man and his construction company on grand larceny and other charges for allegedly bilking three families – whose homes were destroyed during Superstorm Sandy in October 2012 – out of more than $200,000 when they hired the contractor to build new houses between July 2013 and June 2014, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
Andrew Troiano, 54, and Alt Design Construction and Consulting Inc., were arraigned last week on a 13-count indictment charging him with second- and third-degree grand larceny, second- and third-degree criminal possession of stolen property, first-degree scheme to defraud and other crimes. Troiano was released on his own recognizance and ordered to return to court on Oct. 28.
Troiano was originally arrested last December. He and his company were arraigned on a criminal complaint charging each of them with violating New York State Lien Law 79-A-1 (second- and third-degree misappropriation of funds of trust), second-, third- and fourth-degree grand larceny and first-degree scheme to defraud.
According to the indictment handed up last week, on July 19, 2013, a family that resided on Fulton Walk in Breezy Point hired Troiano, who presented himself as the owner of Alt Design Construction and Consulting, Inc., to build a new home on their property. In April 2014, the concrete foundation was poured and the property owners received a bill for $58,500. The pair indicated that they submitted a check to Alt Design in that amount on April 27, 2014. Troiano allegedly hired a subcontractor to do the foundation work and did not pay them for the completed foundation.
Troiano allegedly hired a second subcontractor to do crane work on the Fulton Walk property and that work was completed on May 30, 2104. An invoice for $10,343 from that subcontractor was submitted to Alt Design and allegedly not paid. As a result, on Sept. 22, 2014, the company that did the crane work placed a lien on the Fulton Walk property.
According to the indictment, following the destruction of their Graham Place home during Superstorm Sandy, a Breezy Point couple hired Alt Design & Construction as their contractor on July 23, 2013, to purchase and construct a modular home which would be erected on their property. The payment of the contractor’s price was spread out over time and payment became due based on specified acts listed in the contract. For example, it is alleged that a payment of $63,750 was due to Alt Design upon completion of the concrete foundation by a subcontractor. When the couple received an invoice from Alt Design for the completed foundation, it is alleged that they paid the company with a check dated March 31, 2014, for $63,750 and that said check cleared their account and was to be used by Alt Design for no other purpose than to pay for the foundation job.
Troiano allegedly hired Malbro Construction as a subcontractor in November 2013 to install a concrete foundation and perform other construction services at the Graham Place location. During the course of performing the job, Malbro Construction allegedly received a partial payment of $13,000 from Alt Design, and that when the job was completed on or about April 30, 2014, Alt Design had an outstanding balance of $49,182 owed to Malbro Construction. A demand by Malbro Construction for payment from Alt Design allegedly resulted in no further payments and that although the defendants never disputed the payment due, to date, they have not paid any of the outstanding balance due, Brown said.
In all, three families became the alleged victims of Troiano and his company.
A forensic review of Alt Design’s bank records allegedly revealed that a total of $178,750 was received from the three Breezy Point homeowners and credited to Troiano’s account, but no payments were ever made to the subcontractors. And after a Breezy Point couple living on Hillside Avenue paid $55,000 to Alt Design for the ordering of their modular house, the money was used by Troiano and the company for unrelated matters, including cash withdrawals totaling more than $8,000, payments for unrelated jobs, payments to attorneys, Cablevision, Verizon Wireless, Goodyear Auto and purchases at various liquor stores and restaurants.
On Thumbtack.com, a website that delivers customized quotes so consumers can compare pricing, read reviews, and hire professionals, a user with the handle “Gina Haggerty H.” posted a one-star review on Alt Design’s page on Nov. 23: “Gave a deposit and he didn’t do a thing! We are a young couple who lost their home in sandy and he stole our money!”
User “Andrew L. from ALT Design & Construction, Inc.” replied on Dec. 10: “Mrs. Haggerty forgot to tell you that her project is being litigated with the court system. She does not answer her certified, and also feels that our company should pay for her engineering fees.”
If convicted, Troiano faces up to 15 years in prison. In the case of the corporation, conviction of a felony is punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 or double the amount of the illegal gain.
“The victims in this case had already had their lives devastated by a natural disaster. Their homes were destroyed and when they took the necessary steps to rebuild, the defendant allegedly victimized them again,” Brown said. “These three Queens families trusted the defendant. They paid him large sums of money to construct new homes for them. But instead of providing them with new places in which to live, these families were left with vacant lots, empty promises and depleted bank accounts.”
