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Valor Security & Investigations — the so-called training operation linked to the 2022 death of a construction worker on the Upper West Side — has pleaded guilty to running a fake safety school that issued fraudulent certificates to thousands of workers across New York City.
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On June 6, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced the guilty pleas of both Valor Security and its president, 42-year-old Alexander Shaporov, in New York State Supreme Court. The company and its leader each pleaded guilty to one count of Attempted Enterprise Corruption, ten counts of Offering a False Instrument, and one count of Reckless Endangerment.
Shaporov is expected to be sentenced on October 3 to one year in jail, 100 hours of community service, and the forfeiture of $100,000. The company also lost its security license.
“Valor Security is facing accountability for operating a sham safety training school, imperiling the workers in one of New York’s most dangerous industries,” said DA Bragg in a press release. “Valor’s President, Alexander Shaporov, also pleaded guilty to recklessly endangering Ivan Frias, who tragically died when he fell from a construction site without proper training.”
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Frias, 36, died in November 2022 after falling from the 15th floor of a residential construction site at 263 West End Avenue and West 73rd Street. He had received his safety certification from Valor, which — according to prosecutors — issued many such certificates without any actual training.
Between 2019 and 2023, Valor and Shaporov issued safety cards to approximately 20,000 students, often through cash arrangements with brokers who charged between $300 and $600 per card. Prosecutors say the process sometimes took less than an hour and skipped legally mandated instruction entirely.
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The sham training operation violated a 2017 law requiring construction workers to complete at least 40 hours of safety training, a measure put in place to reduce jobsite injuries and fatalities.
“Today, Alexander Shaporov…acknowledge[s] that they ran a sham safety training school that issued certificates to workers without providing essential training,” said DOI Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber. “One of those workers fell to his death from the 15th floor of a construction site. Ignoring the City’s construction training standards poses grave risks and can have tragic consequences.”
The Manhattan DA’s Office has encouraged any workers who believe they’ve been put in dangerous situations to contact its Worker Protection Unit at (646) 712-0298.
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How many millions did Shaporov make with this scheme? How many unknown deaths and injuries were caused by phony safety training? $100,000 and 1 year in jail sounds like an outrageously easy sentence. Why is white-collar murder treated so cavalierly? I only hope he serves his time in Rikers!