Owner Of Whitestone Trash Hauler Pleads Guilty To Bribery: Feds

WHITESTONE, QUEENS — The owner of a Queens trash-carting business pleaded guilty to federal charges Wednesday after he was accused of bribing a college facilities director to get the exclusive right to pick up the campus' trash, prosecutors announced.

George Kalergios, who owns the Whitestone-based carting company Zeus Waste Management, pleaded guilty to bribery and conspiracy charges in connection with the scheme, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York.

Prosecutors said Kalergios, 57, agreed to give the facilities director a 10-percent cut if the unnamed college hired Zeus to remove its non-hazardous waste; in 2018, the facilities director awarded Zeus a three-year contract.

Over the next eight months, Kalergios paid the facilities director more than $11,000, prosecutors said.

Kalergios faces a sentence of up to 15 years, prosecutors said, and has agreed to pay nearly $110,955 in forfeiture — equal to the amount of the contract.

His defense lawyer, James Kousouros, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Zeus Waste Management received nearly $56,000 from the Paycheck Protection Loan program last year, according to public records.

Kalergios also owns the home-building company Tres Construction and the multi-service contractor EKB Services, Inc., both based in Queens, according to court records.

This story has been updated.