On June 17, 2016, following a weeklong trial, a jury in the Northern District of Illinois found Elizabeth Perino, a former sub-contractor for the City of Chicago, guilty for actions taken to defraud the City of Chicago MWBE program. Perino was convicted on three counts of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 1343 and 1341. United States v. Elizabeth Perino, 11-CR-492 (ND IL).
Through her company, Perdel Contracting Company, Perino acted as a pass-through on a multi-million dollar runway repair project at O’Hare Airport and provided fraudulent WBE invoices to support previously unmet DBE goals in a compliance audit of another O’Hare public works project. More specifically, Perino schemed with the Contractor and caused documents to be prepared and submitted to defraud the City by falsely claiming to have provided equipment and labor when Perdel did not perform, manage, or supervise any work on either project.
Perino was originally charged by complaint in July 2011, following a joint investigation of the Chicago Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the City’s Department of Procurement Services. The conviction is punishable by a maximum sentence of 80 years in prison. U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman will schedule a sentencing hearing at a later date.