File photo — judge’s gavel(Dreamstime/TNS)
Dreamstime / TNSThe head of a Norwalk environmental consulting company has pleaded guilty to paying bribes to a maintenance official at Massachusetts colleges to obtain work contracts, federal prosecutors said.
Stephen Dinapoli, of Wilton, pleaded guilty in federal court in Springfield, Mass., to one count of conspiracy and two counts of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said. He is scheduled to appear for sentencing on April 20.
Prosecutors claim that as the principal of Big East Environmental, Dinapoli paid bribes to Floyd Young, an official “who held positions involving facility maintenance at three collegiate institutions,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Authorities claim that between 2015 and 2019, Dinapoli, 42, paid Young in cash during face-to-face meetings to obtain contracts for environmental consulting work at American International College, Cornell Tech and Cooper Union.
Young was also charged and pleaded guilty in August 2020 to steering “contracts for construction, repair, maintenance and other work for the collegiate institutions to favored contractors,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Dinapoli was one of those favored contractors. Authorities claim Young was typically paid around 15 percent of the contract.
Dinapoli faces up to five years in prison on the conspiracy charge and up to 10 years on each of the counts of bribery, the U.S. attorney’s office said.