Antonio Accurso (born November 8, 1951) is a Quebec businessman who specializes in the construction sector. He directly and indirectly controls several construction businesses as well as bars, restaurants, movie theatres, shopping centres, and the Hippo Club in Laval. Beginnings and political ties Tony Accurso was born on November 8, 1951 in Montreal, and studied civil engineering at Concordia University in Montreal. After his Italian-born father's death in 1982, Tony Accurso took over his business, Louisbourg Construction Ltd. Accurso heads Simard-Beaudry Construction, one of the leading construction companies in Quebec. Accurso also controls many other companies, especially in the construction sector, such as Louisbourg, Gastier, Constructions Marton or the Ciments Lavallée Cemco. Over the course of Accurso's career, he has had ties and has made donations to representatives of several Provincial Political Parties in Quebec including the Parti Québécois, the Quebec Liberal Party, and the Action démocratique du Québec. Accurso was a friend of Louis Laberge, the founder of Fonds de solidarité FTQ which is sponsored by the Fédération des travailleurs du Québec (Quebec Federation of Labour). Accurso's businesses have accumulated $114 million (Canadian) in subsidies from Fonds de solidarité. In December 2004 and January 2005 Accurso was pictured with high ranking union officials Louis Bolduc and Jean Lavallée, and former Montreal city manager Robert Abdallah sailing on his 119-foot yacht. In 2009, Frank Zampino, former chair of Montreal's executive committee, sailed on Accurso's yacht before Accurso was awarded a $355-million water-metre contract by the city. The contract was later cancelled and in May 2009, and Zampino was charged with fraud, conspiracy and breach of trust after a -year investigation. Tax fraud investigations, arrest and incarceration On April 8, 2009, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) executed search warrants concerning tax evasion investigations in Accurso's construction companies. In December 2010, two of Accurso's companies, Constructions Louisbourg Ltd. and Simard-Beaudry Construction Inc., pleaded guilty to tax evasion for claiming false expenses, many involving renovations to Accurso's yacht, and paid fines exceeding $4.1 million. Bruno and B.T. Céramique pleaded guilty to tax evasion in February, 2011, and paid more than $1.3 million in fines. This stemmed from invoices for standard business services were handed out without any work being done. The three construction companies then claimed the fake work as business expenses on their tax returns, dodging about $400,000 in taxes. Following the report Le fonds sous influence on the program Enquête on