April 17, 2018

New York announced the unsealing of an indictment charging Robert J. Mirel and Deborah Barnett, the owners and operators of Arlington Equipment Corp. d/b/a Arlington Manipulators, with defrauding companies and business owners by pretending to sell glass installation equipment and laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars in criminal proceeds through their shell and shelf companies. The Attorney General’s investigation, dubbed “Operation Bob the Builder,” revealed that Arlington Equipment Corp. was one of the only manufacturers of glass manipulators in North America at the time the business started in Queensbury, NY. Glass manipulators are used by glass and glazing companies around the world to help perfectly install heavy glass in high-rise buildings and position custom pieces of glass at angles other than 90-degree intervals. As the indictment alleges, over at least five years, Mirel and Burnett allegedly took advantage of this near monopoly and stole over $1.2 million from over 40 customers across the country, the New York Department of Labor, The New York Department of Tax and Finance, and several employees, who were not fairly compensated. NY