Head of ‘sham' construction safety training school gets one year in prison
The owner of a fraudulent construction safety company that faked safety certifications for thousands of workers, including one man who fell to his death from a job site in 2022, has pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment and other charges and will do a year behind bars, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office announced.
The company, Valor Security, previously one of the largest companies in New York City for job safety training, came under scrutiny in 2022 after worker Ivan Frias fell to his death from a 15-story Upper West Side building he was working on at 263 West End Ave., at W. 72nd St.
Between December 2019 and April 2023, the company, founded by Alexander Shaporov, certified that 20,000 laborers had each completed 40 hours of courses, according to the district attorney's office. Laborers cannot work at most construction sites in the city without completing the training.
But according to court documents, most of the workers who were certified by Valor were never trained — including Frias. Valor filed paperwork showing that Frias had received safety training, including eight hours of fall protection, but Frias never took the courses, court documents state.
Shaporov and Valor Security both pleaded guilty to one count of attempted enterprise corruption, 10 counts of offering a false instrument and one count of reckless endangerment. Under the terms of their pleas, Shaporov is expected to be sentenced on Oct. 3 to one year in jail, 100 hours of community service and the forfeiture of $100,000. Valor also lost its security license.
'Valor Security is facing accountability for operating a sham safety training school, imperiling the workers in one of New York's most dangerous industries,' Bragg said. 'Valor's president, Alexander Shaporov, also pleaded guilty to recklessly endangering Ivan Frias, who tragically died when he fell from a construction site without proper training. We will continue to root out fraud with our partners at DOI and DOB,' he added, referring to the city's Department of Investigation and Department of Buildings.
'Ignoring the city's construction training standards poses grave risks and can have tragic consequences,' DOI Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber said.
The plea comes one day after a construction worker was killed by a slab of concrete falling on him as he worked on a building shed in Brooklyn.
In that fatal accident, DOB issued multiple violations for work without a permit — including demolition in progress of a walk-in freezer and a commercial kitchen — and for failing to maintain the structure. In addition, officials said, DOB ordered all construction work at the site to stop immediately and for the building to be vacated and sealed.
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