Anthony Daguanno and Aradondo Haskins (Photo: Facebook, Michigan Depar
Anthony Daguanno and Aradondo Haskins are charged with bid-rigging and accepting bribes. (Photos: Facebook and Michigan Department of Corrections)
By Allan Lengel and Violet Ikonomova
Two men who worked for Adamo Group, a major Detroit contractor, have been charged with accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bribes and rigging bids to demolish homes in the city. One of the men eventually left Adamo to work for the city of Detroit, where he allegedly continued to take bribes, federal authorities charged in documnents unsealed Monday in U.S. District Court.
The charges are the first to surface in a lengthy, high-profile federal investigation into allegations of bid rigging, corruption and questionable use of contaminated soil in Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan's ambitious home demolition program. The allegations were contained in "federal informations," as opposed to an indictment or criminal complaint, which normally means a guilty plea is almost certain.
Anthony Daguanno and Aradondo Haskins, both estimators for Adamo Group, were tasked with contacting various subcontractors to get bids for demolition work to be included in Adamo's submissions to the city for the demolition program, according to the court documents.
"On several occasions, with intent to defraud and corrupt the bidding process without Adamo's knowledge, Contractor A paid" Daguanno and Haskins "money for dislcosing confidential information about bids from Contractor A's competitors."
"In return for these payments, the two men disclosed confidential information about the lowest competitor bid, which allowed Contractor A to submit an even lower bid, ensuring that Contractor A was awarded lucrative contracts," the government alleged.
Contractor A made at least 71 fraudulent payments to Daguanno from 2010-18 totaling more than $370,000 while he worked at Adamo, authorities charge. Haskin is accused of taking $25,500 between 2014 to 2016.
In April 2015, due to his experience with Adamo, Haskins began working with the City of Detroit Building Authority (DBA) as a "field operations manager" for the demoliton program.
In that position, he was the primary point of contact for demolition contractors and he opened and read bids submitted to the city.
"Contractor A, knowing that Haskins was still in a position to influence the demolition contract biding process, continued to knowingly and corruptly pay Haskins to use his official authority to influence the awarding of demolition contracts to Contractor A."
From 2015 through the end of his employment with the city of Detroit in February 2016, Haskins took $12,500 in bribes from Contractor A, the filings charge.
The complaints say both men acted without Adamo's knowledge. A city spokesman couldn't say whether the charges would impact the company's standing in its demolition program.
Haskins was fired from the Detroit Building Authority three years ago after he was convicted of a third DUI.
"The DBA expects all of its employees to uphold the highest ethical standards," DBA Director Tyrone Clifton said in a statement. "Anyone who committed any illegal activity in any aspect of the demolition program should be held accountable and we will continue to cooperate fully.”
