A federal jury in Tampa last week convicted the president of West Construction Inc. on three fraud-related charges involving a government program intended to help disabled veterans win federal contracts. Eight days earlier, Coral Gables commissioners had voted unanimously to pursue the company for the city’s $1.2 million Art Cinema expansion.
Matthew West was found guilty Nov. 4 of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and major fraud against the United States, according to the jury’s verdict filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. The verdict was entered in Case No. 8:23-cr-00308-WFJ-AEP.
The conviction followed an Oct. 27 meeting at which Mayor Vince Lago and City Manager Peter Iglesias advocated for West Construction, despite the city’s procurement department recommending that the contract go to Hycon Investments LLC, the lowest qualified bidder.
The city is now seeking best and final offers from both companies, Communications Director Martha Pantin told the Gazette on Monday. She also explained that the city’s routine litigation searches focus on the company submitting a bid, rather than its individual owners or executives.
City explains limits of contractor background checks
In response to questions from the Gazette, Pantin described the city’s review of contractors seeking municipal work.
“The solicitation requires bidders to disclose a company’s litigation history,” Pantin wrote. “As part of its standard review before recommending an award, Procurement limits its litigation searches to the entity that submitted the bid. West Construction, Inc.’s disclosure covered the company’s litigation history.”
The federal prosecution named Matthew West individually, not West Construction Inc. as a defendant. But the company was identified in the October 2023 Justice Department announcement of the indictment and in subsequent news coverage.
Pantin’s latest response did not address whether Lago, Iglesias or Chief Procurement Officer Celeste Walker-Harmon knew about the prosecution when commissioners considered the Art Cinema contract. It also did not say whether the guilty verdict would affect the city’s evaluation of West Construction.
The response did not establish whether the city’s procurement requirements call for disclosure of pending criminal proceedings against company principals or whether West Construction disclosed the case involving its president.
Fraud case involved contract intended for disabled veterans
The federal prosecution concerned a contract to build a cancer treatment center at Bay Pines VA Medical Center in Pinellas County.
Prosecutors alleged that West and three other men used Maxon Groupe LLC, a company eligible for federal contracts reserved for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, to obtain work for which West Construction itself was ineligible.
According to the indictment, the defendants concealed West Construction’s role in performing nearly all the work and receiving most of the payments.
The U.S. Treasury paid approximately $4.8 million under the contract between 2017 and 2019, according to federal prosecutors.
The jury found Matthew West guilty on all three counts. The verdict applies to West personally. West Construction Inc. was not charged in the federal case. The federal government is trying to claw back the $4.8 million and West faces up to decades in prison.
Coral Gables awarded West a contract after the 2023 indictment
The federal indictment was already public when Coral Gables awarded West Construction another major project three years ago.
The City Commission voted 5-0 on Nov. 14, 2023, to award the company a $7.6 million construction contract for Fire Station 4, 41 days after federal prosecutors publicly announced the indictment.
West submitted its bid Sept. 27, before the indictment was publicly announced Oct. 4.
Unlike the Art Cinema procurement, West was the lowest responsive and responsible bidder for the fire station, and the city’s procurement department recommended the award.
According to Resolution 2023-339 and its supporting records, procurement officials completed a due-diligence review and determined that West Construction met the requirements for the contract.
The award passed unanimously, with Lago, Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson and Commissioners Melissa Castro, Ariel Fernandez and Kirk Menendez voting in favor.
The available records do not establish whether that review included the pending federal indictment or whether commissioners were informed of it before the award.
West subsequently built Fire Station 4, which opened earlier this year.
That project became a central reason Lago and Iglesias gave for supporting the same company when the Art Cinema contract came before commissioners in October.
Mayor cited company’s previous work
Lago praised West Construction’s performance on Fire Station 4, saying the company completed the work on time, had relatively few change orders and returned unused contingency funds.
Iglesias described West as a “known entity” with which the city had a “very good rapport.”
“I don’t know West Construction personally. I’ve never met them, but I’ve seen their work here in the city,” Lago said, according to an Oct. 28 report in Miami Today.
The mayor argued that the difference between the two bids was small enough to justify considering a contractor with a successful record in the city.
West submitted a bid of $1,245,496.63 for the Art Cinema expansion, compared with Hycon’s $1,239,900, a difference of $5,596.63.
The city’s procurement department recommended Hycon after determining that the company was the lowest responsive and responsible bidder.
Commissioners instead voted 5-0 to authorize negotiations with West, provided the company matched or beat Hycon’s price.
Hycon subsequently sued Coral Gables and West Construction in Miami-Dade Circuit Court on Oct. 30, alleging that allowing West to revise its price after bids were opened violated competitive bidding rules.
The lawsuit seeks to prevent the city from accepting a revised West bid and to require the city to award the contract to Hycon. Those allegations have not been adjudicated.
West Palm Beach examined the same federal case
Another South Florida city considered the indictment before awarding West Construction a substantially larger contract.
West Palm Beach commissioners voted 4-1 in January 2025 to award the company a $35.5 million contract to rebuild Currie Park.
According to reporting by Wayne Washington of The Palm Beach Post, officials publicly discussed the indictment and obtained a management continuity plan explaining how the company would operate if Matthew West could no longer oversee its work.
Commissioner Christy Fox, who said she learned of the indictment only the day before the vote, opposed the award, citing concerns about the federal case and the company’s ability to complete the project.
Coral Gables has not established whether it conducted a comparable review.
Political contributions to Lago and Lara
Campaign-finance records show that Matthew West contributed $1,000 to Coral Gables First, a political committee associated with Lago, on March 10, 2025.
West also contributed $1,000 to Commissioner Richard Lara’s campaign the following month, according to records reviewed by the Gazette.
Both Lago and Lara voted Oct. 27 to authorize negotiations with West Construction.
The contributions do not establish that either official’s decision was influenced by the donations.
Questions remain as city considers both bids
The conviction does not automatically establish that West Construction is ineligible for municipal work. Nor does it establish that Coral Gables officials acted improperly in considering the company.
But the federal case raises questions about how the city evaluated a contractor whose president faced publicly documented fraud charges, both when it awarded the Fire Station 4 contract in 2023 and when commissioners considered the Art Cinema expansion last month.
The city has not explained what additional review, if any, the verdict will prompt, whether its procurement standards adequately address criminal proceedings involving company principals or how its negotiations with both Art Cinema bidders will proceed while Hycon’s lawsuit remains pending.
Author: Coral Gables Gazette News Staff
Originally established in 1996 and relaunched as a digital publication in February 2025, the Coral Gables Gazette is an independent local news organization dedicated to factual, objective and accountable community journalism. Our newsroom reports on the people, policies, institutions and events shaping Coral Gables, Florida, providing residents with timely, informative coverage of the issues affecting their community. Our reporting includes City Hall, local government, municipal elections, public spending, real estate development, business, education, arts and culture, and neighborhood affairs throughout the City Beautiful. We follow City Commission decisions, examine public records and report on the businesses, organizations and individuals contributing to Coral Gables. We believe informed residents are essential to a healthy, engaged community. Stories published under the Coral Gables Gazette News Staff byline are prepared or compiled by the publication's editorial team. We strive for accuracy, fairness, transparency and clear distinctions between news reporting, opinion and advertising. Readers are encouraged to submit news tips, corrections, editorial inquiries and story suggestions through our Contact page and learn more about our standards through our Editorial Policy.
This is great reporting by the Coral Gables Gazette.
It seems clear that, strictly as a practical matter, the absence of Matthew West will seriously impair the ability of his company to do the Art Cinema expansion.
I submit THE CITY SHOULD PUT A HOLD ON PROCEEDING WITH WEST CONSTRUCTION, AND SERIOUSLY EVALUATE THE RISK THAT WEST CONSTRUCTION CANNOT REASONABLY BE EXPECTED TO MEASURE UP TO EXPECTATIONS ON THIS WORK.
Sncerely,
Jackson Rip Holmes