On September 29, 2022, Richard Mandarino (Mandarino) voluntarily surrendered to authorities on an arrest warrant issued in the Northern District of Illinois. This came after years of fraudulent acts, from 2015 to 2017, while he was employed at Walsh Construction (Walsh).
Chicago-based Walsh currently employs approximately 8,000 people and has more than 21 regional offices in the U.S. and Canada. According to Landmarks Illinois, Walsh manages a total volume of work approaching $5B annually. Founded in 1898 by Matthew Walsh, this family-owned business has passed down through four generations of the Walsh family. Walsh grew slowly over time but hit its big break in the 1970s with civil contracts, which catapulted the company in size and revenue. An example of its success can be found at Notre Dame's Walsh Family Hall, which houses the School of Architecture. The Walsh Family Hall was funded by a $27 million donation from the Walsh family in 2013.
In 2009, Walsh expanded its operations into Canada with the formation of Walsh Construction Company Canada. Its projects include the Women’s College Hospital and TTC Steeles Pioneer Village Station, among others.
Mandarino grew up in the Toronto suburbs. He attended Seneca College in King City, Ontario, graduating around 1998, and went on to work in the construction industry as a project accountant and bookkeeper. He is currently in his late 40s.
Eventually, Mandarino crossed paths with Walsh in a way that dramatically changed both of their futures. He became a Senior Project Accountant for Walsh's Canadian business. During this time, Mandarino harbored a secret: he owed gambling debts. Lots of gambling debts. These debts came with threats of harm if Mandarino did not pay.
According to court records, Mandarino approached the CEO of Bondfield Construction Company (Bondfield) to ask for a loan. Bondfield once partnered with Walsh on a Canadian project and over time the partnership became strained. The Bondfield CEO declined Mandarino's plea but offered another solution: take money from Walsh, and Mandarino would get a cut.
Mandarino diverted four payments to the CEO's company, totaling approximately $1.22 million CDN (~$872K USD as of November 2026). In return, Mandarino was provided with $80K to cover his gambling debts. It wasn't enough to get him out of trouble, though.
Mandarino then turned his talent for siphoning funds toward other companies to raise more money to pay his debts and support his family, all while continuing to gamble uncontrollably. He created fictitious Canadian companies and billed Walsh for work that was never completed or agreed to:
Aypa Group received approximately $882K CDN, and Mandarino received $347K CDN.
GBSI received approximately $120K CDN, all of which went to a bookie.
Ventava, Inc. received approximately $254K CDN, and Mandarino received $88K CDN.
In total, Mandarino received around $515K CDN from the fraudulent activity, including the funds received from Bondfield.
Mandarino used his position as senior project accountant to enter bills for construction projects, which Walsh paid. Typically, a project manager oversees each construction project, reviewing bills to ensure construction is progressing within budget, among other tasks. Knowing the project costs would be reviewed, Mandarino went into Walsh's accounting system after each bill was paid and changed where it was expensed. He moved the expense from the construction project, which was reviewed and monitored regularly, to a tax expense account that received less scrutiny. Mandarino also created false credits in Walsh’s accounting system to conceal the ballooning expense.
Fortunately, a tax audit of the accounts uncovered the fraud. On October 21, 2019, Mandarino confessed to Walsh's corporate controller. From the records, it appears he cooperated fully from that point: he confessed, worked with law enforcement, self-surrendered, pleaded guilty, and even provided information about his co-conspirators. Mandarino went on to attend Gamblers Anonymous and even became something of a leader in the group.
In 2025, Mandarino was sentenced to 26 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of over $1.8M (USD). He reported to MDC Brooklyn to begin serving his sentence. Mandarino's release date is January 20, 2027.
In an interesting turn of events, this case isn't over. According to court records, Mandarino has been questioning what happens upon his release. When he self-surrendered and eventually reported to prison, Mandarino was admitted to the U.S. as a visitor. While admitted as a visitor, he reported to prison to serve his sentence, and in that time his authorized stay expired. Technically, Mandarino is now in the U.S. with no lawful status, which means federal immigration authorities will consider him removable upon his release from MDC Brooklyn. As such, the Bureau of Prisons allegedly intends to release Mandarino to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which will hold him in a detention facility for an indeterminate amount of time to be processed and then removed from the U.S.
Mandarino already wants to leave the U.S. He and his lawyers have indicated that upon release, he intends to go back to Canada. U.S. Probation has cleared this and is okay with it, if he observes his requirements to stay compliant: no additional credit extended to him, no gambling, etc.
I'll admit that this last, ongoing portion doesn't have anything to do with the actual fraud (or the purpose of this post); it's just an interesting additional tidbit. In fact, when I relayed the entire story to friends and family, the reactions were split between “Let the guy just leave” and “26 months wasn't long enough; let him have a few months with ICE.”
Beyond that, Mandarino was able to pull off the fraud for reasons that any construction company can learn from. He was given a great deal of trust and control over large financial projects, with little oversight. Admittedly, I don’t know how the audit went or what was found afterward, but his methods point to a few specific gaps.
First, he moved expenses out of job costs, which project managers review, and into a tax account that received less scrutiny. Most companies review an invoice when it comes in, but reclassifications and journal entries made after a bill is paid deserve the same review.
Second, he billed through fictitious vendors. New vendors should be approved and verified by someone other than the person entering bills. Vendors that raise questions should be vetted by a licensed private detective or due diligence firm. These professionals can confirm who owns the company, when it was registered, and whether it actually operates.
Third, he worked on projects far from headquarters, and remote offices and job sites need the same oversight as the home office, not less. With these checks in place, this scheme would likely have been caught much sooner.
“Trust but verify” is an old Russian proverb that accountants know well. Business owners should trust their employees, but they should also take steps to verify their work, review financials, and ask questions, which isn’t possible if a company’s books are in disarray. Fraud in the construction industry is rampant, and much of it comes from the inside. Having the right controls in place won’t eliminate a company’s risk completely, but it can substantially reduce the likelihood of being scammed.
Sources:
Court Records:
United States v. Richard A. Mandarino, No. 1:22-cr-00394 (N.D. Ill.), retrieved via PACER.
Government:
U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Illinois. “Former Accountant for Chicago Construction Company Sentenced to More Than Two Years in Prison for $1.8 Million Embezzlement.” July 21, 2025.
Other:
The Walsh Group. Walshgroup.com. Accessed October 2026.
Forbes. “Forbes Profile Walsh Group”. August 13, 2026.
Landmarks Illinois. “2020 Corporate Legendary Landmark”. Accessed October 2026.
Wikipedia. “Walsh Family Hall of Architecture”. Accessed October 2026.
CPA Practice Advisor “Ex-Chicago Construction Company Accountant to Serve 26 Months in Prison for Embezzlement.” July 29, 2025
