Local siblings ordered to pay $6 million in restitution in workers’ compensation fraud and labor theft case

LOS ANGELES » A brother and sister from Tarzana were ordered Wednesday to pay more than $6 million in restitution to the State Compensation Insurance Fund in connection with what authorities called a workers’ compensation fraud and labor theft scheme involving the brother’s construction company.

Enrique Vera, 51, and Gloria Vera, 60, also were sentenced to one year on probation, and each had already completed 500 hours of community service and one year of electronic monitoring as part of the plea agreement, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Enrique Vera — described by the District Attorney’s Office in 2019 as the owner of Paramount-based Ultimate Inc. — pleaded no contest in April 2019 to one felony count each of workers’ compensation fraud and grand theft of labor, with those counts subsequently being reduced to misdemeanors.

Gloria Vera, the company’s office manager, pleaded no contest to one felony count each of workers’ compensation fraud and insurance fraud that were also lowered to misdemeanors.

The siblings submitted altered payroll records to the state insurance fund in order to pay a reduced premium on the company’s workers’ compensation insurance, Deputy District Attorney Christopher Hartman said after the two entered their pleas. Gloria Vera failed to disclose and concealed employees’ on-the-job injuries that entitled them to workers’ compensation, and her brother underpaid employees on a student housing renovation project at UCLA.

The siblings submitted altered payroll records to the state insurance fund in order to pay a reduced premium on the company’s workers’ compensation insurance.

— Christopher Hartman, Deputy District Attorney