Anthony Tepedino

Introduction

Anthony Tepedino, 62, of Manalapan, New Jersey, the founder, chief executive officer, and owner of a now-defunct telecommunications construction and engineering company, pleaded guilty on November 12, 2026 to commercial bribery, fraud, and aggravated identity theft offenses . As part of his plea before U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman, Tepedino agreed to forfeit more than $5 million in proceeds from his illegal schemes and to pay restitution of more than $25 million; he is scheduled to be sentenced on February 17, 2027 . United States Attorney Jamie McDonald said the plea “is another reminder that this Office will vigorously prosecute those who corruptly place their personal greed above the law” .

Background Information

Tepedino’s construction company operated for over a decade and eventually grew to earn hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue annually and to employ more than 500 people . From at least 2017 through about 2024, prosecutors allege, Tepedino ran a series of schemes to defraud three targets at once: the company’s largest customer, its largest creditor, and the construction company itself .

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Convicted by guilty plea; sentencing scheduled for February 17, 2027.

According to the public filings in the case, Tepedino and a co-conspirator began in about 2018 submitting false invoices to the construction company to generate fraudulent payments to a non-operational shell company controlled by the co-conspirator; to conceal the scheme, they falsely claimed the shell company was owned by a third party and had the co-conspirator impersonate that individual in dealings with the company. By about September 2024, that single scheme had stripped more than $5 million from the business Tepedino himself ran .

From about 2020 through September 2024, Tepedino used stolen money to fund more than $1 million in commercial bribe payments to a senior manager at his company’s largest customer, in exchange for that manager steering contracts worth millions to the construction company and approving its invoices. Over the roughly four years the bribes flowed, the customer paid the construction company more than $300 million . Tepedino also defrauded the company’s largest lender: in late 2021 and early 2022 he obtained more than $18 million in commercial credit on the company’s behalf while making false statements and omissions about the shell company and his dealings with the bribed manager . When the crimes surfaced, prosecutors say, he attempted witness tampering — seeking to cause his co-conspirators to adopt false exculpatory narratives .

Public Reaction and Consequences

The fallout landed hardest on the company’s own people: after Tepedino’s crimes were discovered, the construction company went out of business, leaving its more than 500 employees out of work and leaving the lender with more than $25 million in unpaid loans . McDonald said Tepedino “engaged in a years-long scheme to embezzle millions of dollars and pay more than a million dollars in commercial bribes,” and “used his ill-gotten gains to fund a lavish lifestyle — while his company and his creditors were left holding the bag” .

Tepedino pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and honest services wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, and one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory consecutive two-year term; the forfeiture and restitution agreements exceed $30 million combined .

Current Status

Tepedino, 62, is a convicted felon awaiting sentencing, scheduled for February 17, 2027 before Judge Richard M. Berman in the Southern District of New York . His business is gone, its employees dispersed, and his agreed restitution of more than $25 million to the defrauded lender remains outstanding; the co-conspirators’ cases proceed separately, as the prosecution — handled by the office’s Public Corruption Unit with the FBI, the New York City Department of Investigation, the FDIC-OIG, and IRS Criminal Investigation — continues .

Impact on Their Career/Life

Tepedino built a company that grew from a New Jersey telecommunications contractor into an enterprise earning hundreds of millions a year, and then dismantled it from the inside — looting it through fake invoices, bribing his biggest customer’s manager to keep the revenue flowing, and borrowing against it with false statements until discovery collapsed the business entirely . The plea converts that record into a felony conviction with a mandatory prison term still to be calculated, an agreed forfeiture of more than $5 million, and a restitution obligation above $25 million — the ruin of a career measured in the hundreds of millions it once billed .

Sources

• “Former Owner And CEO Of Telecommunications Construction Company Pleads Guilty To Commercial Bribery And Fraud Offenses” — U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York (DOJ), November 2026: source