Contracting company owner and worker sentenced for scheme to avoid paying drivers union benefits

Two men who worked for a Long Island contracting company were recently sentenced for a years-long driver payroll scheme.

On July 11, 2025, Frank Lizza, former owner and officer of Intercounty Paving Associates, LLC, was sentenced to 6 months of home confinement and 12 months of supervised release by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Also sentenced on July 11 was Ramon De Los Santos, a former Intercounty employee. The court sentenced De Los Santos to 12 months of supervised release.

Lizza and De Los Santos pleaded guilty to lying to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in October 2023.

The U.S. Department of Transportation-Office of Inspector General (DOT-OIG) described the scheme:

“Between approximately June 2014 and September 2018, Lizza, De Los Santos, and others submitted certified payrolls to FAA and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, intentionally omitting hours worked by drivers for LR Safety Consultants & Construction Services, LLC (LR Safety), a unionized company under their control. To avoid paying required union benefits for employees of LR Safety, they transferred a portion of the hours worked to 4L Equipment Leasing, a non unionized company Lizza owned and operated that supplied trucks and drivers for Intercounty’s contracts.“

Both men were additionally sentenced to pay $49,362 in joint and several restitution, and additional restitution may be owed to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The case remains under investigation by DOT-OIG, the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, the Department of Labor OIG, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey OIG.