A Chicago-area contractor that claims such clients as the Chicago Public Schools, Metra and the U.S. Dept. of Defense faces allegations it used sham front companies to keep employees off its payroll and avoid paying fair wages and taxes. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul filed a lawsuit against Drive Construction Inc. Aug. 31 over the alleged scheme.

Officials say Bridgeview, Ill.-based Drive created a network of pass-through entities, which it used to funnel millions of dollars in illegally disguised wage payments between 2015 and 2020. The scheme enabled Drive to dodge paying legally required prevailing wage, overtime and benefits, according to投诉filed in Cook County Circuit Court.

Drive worked on more than 100 public projects during the period in question. They included construction of Englewood STEM High School and a Jefferson Park mixed-use development in Chicago, renovations for public transit agency Metra, a library project in Geneva, Ill., and upgrades to public housing in Freeport, Ill.

Drive分别由总统和首席运营官Eduardo Cortez兄弟领导。检察官说，爱德华多·科尔特斯（Eduardo Cortez）和另一个兄弟耶稣·科尔特斯（Jesus Cortez）在2014年成立了一家单独的公司Cortez Acuctate Construction LLC。只是为了保护责任范围而形成的资本化趋势稀薄。

投诉称，驱动器随后在准确的情况下形成了第二层壳牌公司分包商。这些公司 - 伊利诺伊州Inc.的Infinity Construction LLC，R＆L Construction。投诉称，他们通过现金或货币订单向工人分发平坦的付款，以避免可追溯性。付款没有反映工人的实际时间，也没有反映伊利诺伊州的现行工资，或者如果员工一周超过40个小时，则其加班法律。

投诉说，以现金向工人付款将他们误分类为独立承包商，剥夺了州法律规定的权利，并剥夺了所得税保留和失业保险。官员们写道，Drive还创建了“竞争环境和弱化的守法业务”。

“Misclassifying employees as independent contractors deprives workers of their right to be paid fairly and to be covered by workers compensation insurance in the event of workplace injuries,” Raoul said in a statement. “Employers that gain a competitive advantage by paying workers off the books and in violation of Illinois law create an uneven and unfair playing field for law-abiding businesses.”

驱动器没有立即回应有关此案的询问。

调查人员说，他们将付款从驱动器到准确的付款到其他公司，这些公司将资金分为货币兑换业务的1,000美元。官员在投诉中说，尽管总检察长办公室正在调查此案，但被告发誓他们没有与准确的沟通。

Raoul’s office said in a statement that it was tipped off by the Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council, which has a collective bargaining agreement with Drive.

“木匠工会积极追求工资盗窃案，因为它们伤害了工作家庭，伤害了伊利诺伊州的纳税人，他们伤害了我们按照​​规则扮演的签名承包商，并且对不道德的承包商处于严重的劣势，他们通过欺骗该系统而低下的承包商，”加里·佩里纳尔（Gary Perinar Perinar）联盟区域委员会执行秘书长，在一份声明中说。

The attorney general’s office is asking the court to award relief including return of any “ill-gotten gains,” plus an order for the defendants to submit to monitoring of their payment and record keeping practices.