Former B&B construction president Philip M. Beshara was sentenced Tuesday for his role in defrauding a Valley company out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Beshara was sentenced in the Northern District of Ohio in Cleveland to 24 months in prison after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

His sentencing on the two counts is to run concurrently.

After serving his sentence, Beshara will be on three years of supervised release.

The former company treasurer, Samuel J. DeCaria, also charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, along with Beshara, must repay $1,483,300.07 back to B&B, the company the funds were diverted from.

In a bill of information filed in U.S. District Court stated that from March 2006 through September 2016, the two conspired to defraud the Youngstown-based B&B by diverting $1.6 million from the company bank account into Beshara’s personal account.
 

In addition, the men also had subcontractors submit inflated invoices for work they had performed for B&B, $350,000 of which was allegedly kicked back to Beshara.

As the person in charge of overseeing B&B’s accounting department, investigators say DeCaria knew about and allowed the allegedly fraudulent transactions.
 

In 2017 and 2018, B&B named Beshara among the defendants in civil lawsuits filed in Mahoning County Common Pleas court alleging multiple violations including theft, record tampering, and engaging in corrupt activity.

 
B&B voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit in February 2020, according to court filings.
 
 

In July 2017, state agents seized three folders of evidence related to B&B during a search of Attorney Steven Garea’s Canfield office.

Included in the seized evidence was a paper showing a payment breakdown, and correspondence alleging the fraud committed against B&B Contractors, which included earning statements, and construction contracts.