The primary contractor involved in the scandal-plagued CityTime project that has cost city taxpayers more than $600 million, is set to pay $500 million to settle its current federal investigation and avoid further prosecution.
Tech giant Science Applications International Corp. has agreed to $370 million in restitution and a $130 million penalty, authorities announced on Wednesday.
In one of the most widespread scandals in city history, the doomed project involved fraud from hundreds of contractors, kickbacks and routine bribery, and various money-laundering conspiracies.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara once commented on the charges and said, "The corruption on CityTime was epic in duration. Today we allege what many have long feared. The CityTime project was corrupted to its core by one of the largest and most brazen frauds ever committed against the city of New York."
Ironically, the payroll technology project was initially launched as an automated initiative to save money and expose city workers attempting to exploit the system.
In June, Mayor Bloomberg demanded the multi-billion-dollar company repay the city $600 million spent on the project.
As more damaging details emerged, among those charged, two are believed to have fled the country and two have pleaded guilty.