BOSTON - A Malden man was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for his role in a wide-ranging conspiracy to defraud his employer, a large facilities services company with offices in the Greater Boston area.
Vence Pires, 58, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Senior Judge Rya W. Zobel to one year and one day in prison, one year of supervised release and restitution to be determined at a later date. In July 2018, Pires pleaded guilty one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Co-defendant Lou Amaral, 52, also of Malden, pleaded guilty on July 9, 2018, to one count of conspiracy to commit honest services mail fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of money laundering and one count of tax evasion. Amaral is awaiting sentencing.
Pires and Amaral worked for the same facilities services company in the Greater Boston area. Amaral was the supervisor of the Special Services Department, and as such, he had the ability to hire employees and to contract with third-parties to provide temporary labor. Pires was an account manager who worked for Amaral in Special Services. Amaral first began taking bribes from a temporary labor company in order to steer contracts to that company. In 2014, Amaral opened up his own temporary labor company and, with the help of Pires, awarded himself the temporary labor contracts. Through this scheme, Amaral made approximately $10 million in revenue over a three-year period, resulting in harm to his employer of more than $4 million.
United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Kristina O’Connell, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston; and Joseph W. Cronin, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Rosen of Lelling’s Securities and Financial Fraud Unit prosecuted the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
