Consultants For City's Payroll Website Face Fraud Charges

Federal investigators say the four men used shell corporations and false timesheets to misappropriate city funds allocated for the "CityTime" project, which aims to prevent payroll fraud and abuse.

One of the suspects' wife and mother have also been charged.

"They are charged with siphoning off tens of millions of dollars from the project, through a network of shell companies," said Department of Investigation Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn.

Three of the suspects face up to 40 years in prison, and the other three face up to 20-year sentences.

The project was originally estimated to cost $63 million, but ballooned to about $700 million. It involved automated payroll systems featuring hand scanners and computer software, like the one seen above, that were to save the city money by eliminating payroll waste and abuse.

Instead, investigators say the private contractors on the project defrauded the city out of some $80 million.