A Brooklyn construction company being scrutinized by the FBI as part of an investigation into Mayor Eric Adams’ fundraising was hit with more than $400,000 in fines the past two decades for ignoring building safety violations, records show.
The city’s Environmental Control Board slapped KSK Construction with at least $417,098 in penalties off 256 violations it received since 2004 at 31 of its construction sites — including luxury condo projects in Williamsburg, a Harlem mall, and a Korean cultural center in Manhattan, according to Buildings Department filings.
The company — an offshoot of now-shuttered KiSKA Construction — took its biggest hit for construction work it did on a 25-story condo project at 570 Broome St. in Hudson Square.
From 2016 to 2019, the ECB ordered KSK to pay $62,511 in fines on 31 summonses where it determined the firm failed to install mandated guardrails, improperly operated hoisting machines, and other safety snafus, records show.
KSK was also issued a ticket on the project for failing to notify the city Buildings Department after Army war vet Gregory Echevarria, who served multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, was tragically crushed to death by a 7.5-ton crane counterweight in April 2019 while on the job.
Although the ECB dismissed the summons a year later, Echevarria’s family in 2021 sued KSK and other companies involved in the project, claiming their negligence led to the 34-year-old’s death. The lawsuit is ongoing.
Other problematic projects include the 10-story 14 West 14th Street condo project in Greenwich Village, where it was slammed with $48,500 in fines, including for allowing a worker to operate a suspended scaffold without safety harnessing.
It was also slapped with another $50,800 in fines combined for violations it racked up building the five-story 125th Street Mall in Harlem and the New York Korea Center in Murray Hill.
The company boasts on its website that it helped build more than 50 projects citywide, with many others still in the pipeline.
A huge chunk of its owners’ early projects, especially when under the umbrella of KiSKA, involved building luxury condos in North Brooklyn following an historic 2005 rezoning that jump-started mass construction of high-rise luxury apartments in Williamsburg and Greenpoint. Many of those projects racked up plenty of violations as well.
State Sen. Jessica Ramos (D-Queens) said KSK’s shoddy safety record could be a warning sign.
“Labor violations, shortcuts on safety – these are the telltale canaries in the coal mine for bigger issues with construction companies,” said Ramos, a longtime critic of Mayor Adams, when told of The Post’s findings.
One of the federal probe’s focuses is whether Adams’ campaign staff conspired with KSK and the Turkish government to use “straw donors” to illegally funnel foreign cash into his campaign coffers in exchange for favors, law enforcement sources said.
KSK declined comment.
Neither KSK, the mayor, his fundraisers or any others have been charged with any crimes amid the probe. Adams has denied any wrongdoing.