A former construction company owner was sentenced last week for conspiring to defraud the government in connection with the renovation of the John W. McCormack Post Office and Courthouse in Boston.

Wael Isreb was sentenced to four years of probation, including 18 months of home confinement, and ordered to pay $164,627 in restitution. In March 2014, Isreb and his co-defendant, Aluisio Dasilva, each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and making false statements.

Isreb was the owner of Taunton Forms, a now-defunct concrete construction company based in Lakeville. In September 2006, the General Services Administration retained Suffolk Construction Co. as the general contractor to renovate the McCormack Building. Suffolk Construction retained Taunton Forms as a subcontractor to perform certain concrete work on that project. Suffolk Construction paid Taunton Forms in excess of $1 million for its work.

Federal law requires that contractors on federal projects more than $2,000 pay workers a prevailing wage, and that they submit weekly reports certifying the wages they paid their employees. Beginning in about December 2007, however, Isreb conspired with Dasilva and others to pay Taunton Forms workers less than the prevailing wage while certifying that it was doing so to Suffolk Construction, the GSA and the United States Department of Labor.

As part of the conspiracy, the defendants agreed to falsely report to the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance that the Taunton Forms workers had been laid off. The conspiracy also permitted Isreb to avoid making fringe benefit payments to certain labor union benefit plans that Taunton Forms was required to pay pursuant to its applicable collective bargaining agreements. Isreb also failed to withhold applicable payroll taxes.