Contractor Sentenced to Federal Prison for Faking D.O.T. Invoices for Binghamton Bridge Work

A Western New York man is to spend 18 months in Federal Prison and pay $600,000 in restitution for bilking the New York State Department of Transportation by submitting fake invoices for projects in the Binghamton and Buffalo regions.

47-year-old Nathaniel Lorenz of Holley New York was sentenced May 2 after being convicted of mail and wire fraud in a scheme to order inferior water sealing products for bridge deck projects.

Federal prosecutors said Lorenz’ company, ACME Powerwashing Incorporated, contracted with the DOT in 2015 and 2016 to clean and seal portions concrete bridge decks using a chemical that makes concrete more resistant to penetration by water, chlorides and waterborne contaminants that can cause potholes.

The Federal Highway Administration provided most of the money for the contracts that paid the company more than $1 million.

Officials said Lorenz faked paperwork on the ordering of the material to conceal that he wasn’t buying the amount of sealing chemical required by the contract.  In addition, the invoices for the chemical purchases were to S.E. Brett, Incorporated, another company Lorenz owned but didn’t actually sell anything. Investigators said the fraud went back to at least 2012.