{"id":235532,"date":"2021-04-26T00:48:02","date_gmt":"2021-04-25T21:48:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/feds-investigating-alleged-problems-with-kosciuszko-bridge-cable-armor\/"},"modified":"2021-04-26T00:48:02","modified_gmt":"2021-04-25T21:48:02","slug":"feds-investigating-alleged-problems-with-kosciuszko-bridge-cable-armor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/feds-investigating-alleged-problems-with-kosciuszko-bridge-cable-armor\/","title":{"rendered":"#Feds investigating alleged problems with Kosciuszko Bridge cable armor"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Feds investigating alleged problems with Kosciuszko Bridge cable armor<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n

Federal authorities are investigating claims that anti-terror cable shields on the Kosciuszko Bridge are\u00a0falling apart\u00a0as the result of a botched job by an allegedly crooked contractor, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n

The Brooklyn US Attorney\u2019s Office obtained a subpoena for documents from Hardwire LLC, which is locked in a related court battle against ex-employee Irwin \u201cSkip\u201d Ebaugh IV and his company, Infrastructure Armor LLC, according to a source familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n

Hardwire\u00a0alleges in a nearly $40 million civil suit that it lost out on a job to protect the bridge\u2019s cables from bomb blasts and fire after Ebaugh swiped its trade secrets and used them to underbid his former employer.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0investigation into the\u00a0bridge was launched after\u00a0The Post last year exclusively reported on Hardwire\u2019s suit in Baltimore federal court \u2014 including its claim that Ebaugh\u2019s work created \u201ca severe and imminent threat to public safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Irwin
Irwin \u201cSkip\u201d Ebaugh IV, who is being sued by his former employer Hardwire LLC for his work on the Kosciuszko Bridge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The probe grew out of an earlier investigation by the FBI in Maryland into Hardwire\u2019s claim that Ebaugh stole its trade secrets, according to a source familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n

The Brooklyn investigation has since been expanded to include Hardwire\u2019s allegations regarding the manufacture, installation and safety of the bridge\u2019s cable shields, the source said.<\/p>\n

Although the exact nature of the probe isn\u2019t clear, federal tax money paid for more than $800 million of the cost of the $873 million Kosciuszko Bridge. Under federal law, it is a felony to defraud the government through any contract worth more than $1 million.<\/p>\n

The maximum punishment is 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine, although the fine can be increased to as much as $5 million if \u201cthe offense involves a conscious or reckless risk of serious physical injury.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hardwire claimed in court papers that \u201caggressive corrosion\u201d of the bridge\u2019s cable armor from improper manufacturing and installation left the metal equipment \u201cin danger of falling off.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The
The anti-terror cable shields on the Kosciuszko Bridge that were allegedly botched.<\/figcaption>
Paul Martinka<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The federal subpoena seeks copies of \u201cemails, correspondence and other documentation received by or related to\u201d Ebaugh\u2019s company and three other firms involved in the work on the bridge, which connects Brooklyn to Queens over Newtown Creek.<\/p>\n

They include Freyssinet USA, which designed and supplied the cables for the dual-span Kosciuszko, which was completed in 2019 and replaced a namesake bridge that opened in 1939.<\/p>\n

The company, a subsidiary of the French construction and engineering conglomerate Soletanche Freyssinet,\u00a0was recently named a co-defendant in Hardwire\u2019s suit.<\/p>\n

Freyssinet USA is accused of conspiring with Ebaugh and his company to steal Hardwire\u2019s trade secrets and \u201cmonopolize\u00a0the armor shielding and bridge cable market\u201d in the US and elsewhere.<\/p>\n

The defendants have denied all of Hardwire\u2019s allegations.<\/p>\n

\"The
The cable shields on the Kosciuszko Bridge.<\/figcaption>
Matthew McDermott<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The other companies named in the subpoena are HNTB Corp., which was the lead designer\u00a0of the bridge\u00a0and Vectorworks Marine LLC, a tooling and production company.<\/p>\n

The Brooklyn federal subpoena was issued Feb. 9, a little more than two months after\u00a0The Post revealed that all 56 metal-and-concrete cable shields on the Queens-bound side of the bridge were being\u00a0held together\u00a0by hundreds of nylon straps.<\/p>\n

Ebaugh was photographed\u00a0installing the first straps\u00a0in March of last year, just hours after The Post exclusively reported on the allegations against him and his company.<\/p>\n

The state Department of Transportation said the straps were \u201cproactively\u201d installed by Ebaugh\u2019s company due to \u201cminimal separation on some of the casings\u201d and insisted that the situation had \u201cno bearing on the safety of the bridge.\u201d<\/p>\n

The subpoena directed Hardwire to app<\/a>ear before a Brooklyn grand jury Feb. 23 or else turn over the records to an agent of the US Transportation Department\u2019s Office of Inspector General<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Ebaugh
Ebaugh (right) installing straps on the cable shields on the Kosciuzsko Bridge.<\/figcaption>
Paul Martinka<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to court records, Hardwire hasn\u2019t complied with the subpoena due to a confidentiality order covering discovery material that\u2019s part of its case against Ebaugh, his company and Freyssinet.<\/p>\n

Last week, the company filed a motion to amend the order so it can cooperate with the feds and attached its federal subpoena as an exhibit.<\/p>\n

Maryland federal Chief Judge James Bredar, who is presiding over the case, gave the defendants until Monday to respond.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for the Brooklyn US Attorney\u2019s Office declined to comment on the subpoena.<\/p>\n

Lawyers for Ebaugh, his company and Freyssinet, and representatives of HNTB and Vectorworks Marine didn\u2019t return e-mails seeking comment.\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Feds investigating alleged problems with Kosciuszko Bridge cable armor” Federal authorities are investigating claims that anti-terror cable shields on the Kosciuszko Bridge are\u00a0falling apart\u00a0as the result of a botched job by an allegedly crooked contractor, The Post has learned. The Brooklyn US Attorney\u2019s Office obtained a subpoena for documents from Hardwire LLC, which is locked…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":235533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/Kosciuszko-Bridge.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[103386,76828,4950,75699,70358,70446,5232,11247,70466,82764],"class_list":["post-235532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-4-25-21","tag-bridges","tag-brooklyn","tag-contracts","tag-investigations","tag-lawsuits","tag-maryland","tag-queens","tag-subpoenas","tag-us-attorney"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}