On September 22, 2017, former City of Chicago Department of Transportation contractor Timothy Mason was sentenced to a two year term of imprisonment and a one year supervised release, for a mail fraud scheme. Restitution will be set on October 12, 2017.
Mason was charged with mail fraud in violation of the Illinois Criminal Code, 18 U.S.C. § 1341. Mason and his co-owner, Mariana Gerzanych, applied for and received over $2.9 million in grants from the City of Chicago, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the Association of Bay Area Governments, and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. The grant funds were intended to support installation and operation of charging stations for electric vehicles. In order to obtain grant funds, Mason and Gerzanych falsely claimed that a company called Actium Power had supplied Level 3 DC fast chargers to 350Green and that 350Green had paid Actium Power for those chargers, when in fact Actium Power did not supply the chargers, and the actual manufacturer of the chargers was never paid. Further, 350Green submitted claims to the City of Chicago that falsely represented that subcontractors and vendors had been paid when in fact, they had not.
Mason’s conviction and sentencing before U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman is the product of an investigation initiated by the Office of Inspector General, conducted jointly with the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.