Navillus Contracting: Convictions, Sentences, and Appeal

The Navillus Contracting fraud case ended with the New York City construction firm’s founder Donal O’Sullivan, his sister Helen O’Sullivan, and financial controller Padraig Naughton convicted in October 2021 of embezzling more than $1 million in union benefit contributions through a hidden off-payroll scheme. All three were sentenced in 2023, and a federal appeals court upheld the convictions in July 2025. A separate civil case over “alter-ego” companies had already produced a $76 million judgment against Navillus in 2017, later settled in bankruptcy for about $25.7 million.

What the Executives Were Convicted Of

Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York charged that from 2011 through 2017, Navillus executives routed the wages of union workers through an outside entity that court documents call the “Consulting Company.” The Consulting Company issued paychecks to Navillus employees for work done on Navillus job sites, which let the executives avoid making the health, pension, and vacation contributions their collective bargaining agreements required. To conceal the arrangement from benefit fund auditors, the defendants had the Consulting Company issue invoices describing the payments as “masonry” or “consulting” services.¹

The scheme moved more than $7.2 million in payroll for 97 workers and resulted in over $1 million in evaded benefit contributions.²³ A Brooklyn grand jury unsealed an 11-count indictment on July 30, 2020, charging Donal O’Sullivan (founder and president), Helen O’Sullivan (payroll administrator), and Padraig Naughton (financial controller) with wire fraud, mail fraud, embezzlement from employee benefit funds, submission of false remittance reports, and conspiracy.⁴

After a three-week trial before U.S. District Judge Pamela K. Chen, a jury convicted all three defendants on all 11 counts on October 22, 2021.¹ Navillus Contracting itself was not charged as a defendant.²

The Sentences

Each count carried a statutory maximum of 20 years, but the sentences imposed in 2023 were considerably shorter. The court set the loss figure at $1,214,976.65.³

Donal O’Sullivan received six months in prison and two years of supervised release.
Padraig Naughton received six months in prison and two years of supervised release.
Helen O’Sullivan received two years of probation, a $5,000 fine, and $1,100 in special assessments.

On September 6, 2023, the court ordered $1,276,076.35 in restitution to the victim benefit funds. Donal O’Sullivan was held liable for the full amount, payable in quarterly installments of roughly $319,000 starting January 1, 2024. Helen O’Sullivan and Naughton were made jointly and severally liable for 30 percent of the total, contingent on Donal O’Sullivan’s inability to pay. Donal O’Sullivan and Naughton were ordered to surrender on November 13, 2023.⁵

The Separate Civil Alter-Ego Case

The criminal charges are often confused with an earlier civil dispute. In 2014, five union locals sued Navillus in the Southern District of New York, alleging that the company was violating collective bargaining agreements and ERISA by funneling work to nonunion “alter-ego” firms paying wages and benefits 30 to 50 percent below union rates.⁶ Two entities were central: Times Square Construction and Advanced Contracting Solutions (ACS). The court found extensive financial and operational ties between Navillus and ACS, including that ACS’s formation paperwork listed a Navillus vice president as its sole member, its registration fees were charged to Helen O’Sullivan’s credit card, Donal O’Sullivan made personal loans to ACS’s founder and held options to buy a majority stake, and ACS used an apartment owned by Donal O’Sullivan’s wife as its mailing address. The court also found that Donal O’Sullivan and ACS founder Eoin Moriarty committed perjury about their arrangement.⁷

On September 20, 2017, after a bench trial, the court ruled that ACS was an alter ego of Navillus, calling it a “disguised continuance” of the union shop. ACS and Navillus were held jointly and severally liable for about $73.4 million, and a total judgment of $76 million was entered against Navillus.⁸

Navillus filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on November 8, 2017.⁹ Mediation produced a settlement that reduced the union obligation to approximately $25.7 million, vacated the original judgment, and let the company keep operating.¹⁰ The reorganization plan was confirmed on October 10, 2018, and the bankruptcy case was formally closed on April 30, 2024.

The Appeal

All three defendants sought to remain free during appeal. They argued that the evidence did not show the Consulting Company’s workers performed “covered work” under the union agreements, that evidence about the alter-ego companies had been improperly admitted, and that COVID-19 courtroom restrictions had deprived Naughton of a fair trial. Judge Chen rejected each argument, finding none raised a “substantial question of law or fact” likely to lead to reversal.⁵ On July 17, 2025, a U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the convictions.¹¹

Is Navillus Still in Business?

Yes. Because the company itself was not a defendant in the criminal case, the convictions of its executives did not shut it down. Navillus’s website continues to describe it as a New York City construction firm handling commercial concrete, masonry, tile, stone, carpentry, design-build, and general contracting.¹² Court records from 2026 show the firm actively defending workplace safety litigation under the name “Navillus Tile, Inc., Doing Business as Navillus Contracting, Inc.”¹³

1
U.S. Department of Justice. Navillus Construction Executives Convicted of Embezzling Union Benefits Funds
2
Engineering News-Record. Contractor Navillus Ex-Execs Convicted in Union Embezzlement Scheme
3
GovInfo. United States v. O’Sullivan, Memorandum and Order
4
U.S. Department of Justice. President of Navillus Contracting Charged With Defrauding Union Benefits Funds
5
GovInfo. United States v. O’Sullivan, Memorandum and Order on Bail Pending Appeal
6
Engineering News-Record. Behind the Navillus Bankruptcy: A Union Contractor’s Ties to Nonunion Firms
7
U.S. Bankruptcy Court, S.D.N.Y. Memorandum of Decision, In Re Advanced Contracting Solutions
8
Bloomberg Law. NY Concrete Company Ordered to Pay $76M in Alter Ego Case
9
Inforuptcy. Bankruptcy Case – Navillus Tile, Inc.
10
The Real Deal. A Federal Judge Ordered Navillus to Pay Unions $76M. Here’s Why the Contractor Is Only Paying $26M
11
Irish Independent. US Court Upholds Conviction of Kerry Brother and Sister in Navillus Construction Fraud Case
12
Navillus Inc. Navillus Contracting Homepage
13
NY Courts. Gonzalez v Navillus Tile, Inc.