Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown addressed reports an architect resigned from a pair of parks projects it had contracts for with the city.
Hormoz Monsouri is president of the EI Team, the lead consultant on the Shoshone and Trinidad park projects. But he faces wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering charges stemming from allegations he made false payroll statements to get $3 million in loans from the federal government's Paycheck Protection program.
Brown told reporters contracts don't go directly to his office. "This was handled in the Department of Public Works," says Brown. "The Department of Public Works set up a selection committee, which reviewed the companies that responded to an RFP, and would have liked to have known this. But from the selection process, looking at the companies that that submitted, and doing all of the normal checks that have been in place for a long period of time, the selection committee did not identify the individual being associated with the company."
Brown says a number of checks are done, and have been done for a long period of time with contracts. "Checks involve looking at companies that have been disbarred by the state and the federal government. And looking at that list of the barred firms. This company was not on the state list. It was not on the federal list. And sadly, it was missed by the selection committee," explains Brown.
Brown says the Public Works Commissioner has sent recommendations. He says one of the recommendations would be to ask questions about legal issues that might be experienced by members of the company to take a closer look at issues that could potentially be problematic.
Monsouri's EI Team had been the lead for Shoshone and Trinidad Park projects.
