Big Dig firm seen in $42m settlement

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Big Dig firm seen in $42m settlement

Supplier linked to faulty concrete

By Sean P. Murphy, Globe Staff | July 27, 2007

Aggregate Industries NE Inc., suspected of supplying 5,000 truckloads of substandard concrete used on the Big Dig, will pay $42 million to settle civil and criminal investigations against the company, according to a person involved in the settlement.

Most of that money, $27 million, would go to a special fund to be used to pay for future maintenance and repairs on the long-troubled highway-and-tunnel project, said the source, who asked for anonymity, pending an official announcement expected today.

The remaining $15 million would be split between the federal and state governments to settle the matter for Aggregate, the region's biggest concrete supplier, the source said.

Aggregate supplied 1.2 percent of all the concrete used in Big Dig tunnel walls, tunnels, and roadways, according to the indictment of six Aggregate managers obtained by US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan and made public in May 2006.

The settlement ends the case against the company, which is owned by Holcim, a large concrete firm based in Switzerland. Criminal charges remain against six local company managers who have either resigned or been suspended. They are awaiting trial on charges of conspiracy to commit highway fraud and mail fraud, conspiracy to defraud the government, making false statements, and mail fraud.

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The 135-count indictment of the managers alleges a brazen ploy: Aggregate managers repeatedly passed off over-age concrete by simply adding water to make it seem fresh and falsifying documents to back up their assertions. Concrete must be used within 90 minutes of being mixed; otherwise it begins to harden and may not solidify properly.


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