Former Owner and CEO of Telecommunications Construction Company Pleads Guilty to Commercial Bribery and Fraud
Anthony Tepedino, 62, of Manalapan, New Jersey, the founder, chief executive officer, and owner of a now-defunct telecommunications construction and engineering company, pleaded guilty on November 12 in federal court in the Southern District of New York to commercial bribery, fraud, and aggravated identity theft offenses. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced the plea.
According to prosecutors, from at least 2017 through 2024, Tepedino carried out a series of schemes to defraud his own company, its largest customer, and its largest creditor bank. The construction company had operated for more than a decade and at its peak earned hundreds of millions of dollars a year and employed more than 500 people. Tepedino and others formed shell companies, created fake invoices, and looted the company of more than $5 million, using some of the proceeds to bribe an employee of the largest customer and to pay millions to himself, his relatives, and his creditors.
Beginning in 2018, he and a co-conspirator submitted false invoices that generated fraudulent payments to a non-operational shell company, falsely claiming it was owned by a third party and having the co-conspirator impersonate that person; by September 2024 they had stolen more than $5 million. From 2020 through September 2024, Tepedino paid more than $1 million in commercial bribes to a senior manager at the customer company in exchange for steering contracts and work to his company and approving its invoices; during the roughly four years of bribery, the customer paid the construction company more than $300 million.
He also defrauded the company's largest lender, obtaining more than $18 million in commercial credit in late 2021 and early 2022 through false statements and omissions about the shell company and the bribery. In and after September 2024, he attempted witness tampering, seeking to have both co-conspirators adopt false exculpatory narratives. After his crimes were discovered, the company went out of business, leaving its employees out of work and the bank with more than $25 million in unpaid loans.
U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said Tepedino embezzled millions of dollars over years, paid more than a million dollars in commercial bribes, and used his ill-gotten gains to fund a lavish lifestyle while his company and creditors were left holding the bag. Under his plea, Tepedino agreed to forfeit more than $5 million and pay restitution of more than $25 million.
Tepedino pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and honest services wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, and one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory consecutive sentence of two years. He pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman and is scheduled to be sentenced on February 17, 2027. The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other agencies and is being prosecuted by the Public Corruption Unit of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于华盛顿的美国司法部总部大楼宪法大道立面秋日景象，本案由司法部纽约南区检察官办公室起诉。编辑部固定图库（司法部总部定版图）。 / Photo: The U.S. Department of Justice headquarters on Constitution Avenue in Washington in autumn; this case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. Newsroom fixed library image (DOJ headquarters).
