A Frontline Construction worker along the Front Range. (LinkedIn)
A former executive at Denver’s Frontline Construction says that he turned the struggling firm around in 2024, only to be fired and falsely accused of embezzlement the next year.
Joe Larsen, who lives in Wisconsin, claims “the company was struggling to maintain adequate cash flow and make timely payments to vendors and subcontractors” when he was named senior project executive at the start of 2024. The job paid $220,000, plus bonuses.
“(Co-owner Kyle) Fabra directed Larsen to ‘do whatever it took’ to restore its client relationships, get projects back on track, and pay vendors and subcontractors,” according to a countersuit that Larsen filed against his former employer on New Year’s Eve. “Larsen worked diligently throughout 2024 to comply with Fabra’s directive. Through his efforts, Larsen succeeded.”
Larsen interpreted the directive to mean he should bend traditional accounting practices and use his own money for client gifts, building materials and other expenses, then provide receipts from unrelated purchases to get repaid, according to last month’s countersuit.
But in the fall of 2024, Frontline threatened to fire Larsen for using personal receipts for company reimbursements, Larsen recalls. Frontline also took issue with some personal charges on a corporate credit card. Larsen acknowledges that spending but calls it “inadvertent.”
“Several firearms and/or firearm accessories were both purchased on (a) company card and reimbursed from (a) personal card,” according to a copy of Larsen’s disciplinary record at Frontline that has been attached as a court exhibit and obtained by BusinessDen.
Larsen agreed to repay Frontline $25,000 and the matter was closed. Or so it seemed.
What happened next is in dispute. Frontline says Larsen continued using false receipts over the next year and ultimately stole $167,000 in company funds before he was fired in September 2025. The company then sued him for embezzlement the following month.
Joe Larsen. (LinkedIn)
But in his Dec. 31 countersuit, Larsen says Frontline’s owners raved about the job he was doing — “The last 12 months have been fantastic,” they reportedly wrote on a card in January 2025 — while he fully complied with the company’s reimbursement practices.
Meanwhile, Frontline was refusing to pay him $179,164 in project bonuses, according to Larsen. After he threatened to sue the construction firm, he was fired Sept. 5, he alleges.
“Frontline Construction flatly rejects Mr. Larsen’s claims,” Fabra, the company’s co-founder and executive director, said in a statement to BusinessDen. “The allegation that he was terminated to avoid paying a bonus is false and he was paid every dollar owed to him.
“His countersuit is a blatant and desperate attempt to deflect from documented financial misconduct that led to his termination and our lawsuit to recover stolen funds,” added Fabra, who co-owns Frontline with Austin Turner. “We are confident the court will expose these claims for what they are and will not allow false narratives to shield misconduct from accountability.”
Fabra and Turner are also defendants in the countersuit, which accuses them and Frontline of theft, wage violations and breach of contract. A trial has not yet been scheduled.
Larsen’s lawyers are Denison Goodrich-Schlenker and Justin Plaskov with Jester Gibson & Moore. Frontline’s attorneys are Max Stich and Philip Goiran at Tiemeier & Stich.
A Frontline Construction worker along the Front Range. (LinkedIn)
A former executive at Denver’s Frontline Construction says that he turned the struggling firm around in 2024, only to be fired and falsely accused of embezzlement the next year.
Joe Larsen, who lives in Wisconsin, claims “the company was struggling to maintain adequate cash flow and make timely payments to vendors and subcontractors” when he was named senior project executive at the start of 2024. The job paid $220,000, plus bonuses.
“(Co-owner Kyle) Fabra directed Larsen to ‘do whatever it took’ to restore its client relationships, get projects back on track, and pay vendors and subcontractors,” according to a countersuit that Larsen filed against his former employer on New Year’s Eve. “Larsen worked diligently throughout 2024 to comply with Fabra’s directive. Through his efforts, Larsen succeeded.”
Larsen interpreted the directive to mean he should bend traditional accounting practices and use his own money for client gifts, building materials and other expenses, then provide receipts from unrelated purchases to get repaid, according to last month’s countersuit.
But in the fall of 2024, Frontline threatened to fire Larsen for using personal receipts for company reimbursements, Larsen recalls. Frontline also took issue with some personal charges on a corporate credit card. Larsen acknowledges that spending but calls it “inadvertent.”
“Several firearms and/or firearm accessories were both purchased on (a) company card and reimbursed from (a) personal card,” according to a copy of Larsen’s disciplinary record at Frontline that has been attached as a court exhibit and obtained by BusinessDen.
Larsen agreed to repay Frontline $25,000 and the matter was closed. Or so it seemed.
What happened next is in dispute. Frontline says Larsen continued using false receipts over the next year and ultimately stole $167,000 in company funds before he was fired in September 2025. The company then sued him for embezzlement the following month.
Joe Larsen. (LinkedIn)
But in his Dec. 31 countersuit, Larsen says Frontline’s owners raved about the job he was doing — “The last 12 months have been fantastic,” they reportedly wrote on a card in January 2025 — while he fully complied with the company’s reimbursement practices.
Meanwhile, Frontline was refusing to pay him $179,164 in project bonuses, according to Larsen. After he threatened to sue the construction firm, he was fired Sept. 5, he alleges.
“Frontline Construction flatly rejects Mr. Larsen’s claims,” Fabra, the company’s co-founder and executive director, said in a statement to BusinessDen. “The allegation that he was terminated to avoid paying a bonus is false and he was paid every dollar owed to him.
“His countersuit is a blatant and desperate attempt to deflect from documented financial misconduct that led to his termination and our lawsuit to recover stolen funds,” added Fabra, who co-owns Frontline with Austin Turner. “We are confident the court will expose these claims for what they are and will not allow false narratives to shield misconduct from accountability.”
Fabra and Turner are also defendants in the countersuit, which accuses them and Frontline of theft, wage violations and breach of contract. A trial has not yet been scheduled.
Larsen’s lawyers are Denison Goodrich-Schlenker and Justin Plaskov with Jester Gibson & Moore. Frontline’s attorneys are Max Stich and Philip Goiran at Tiemeier & Stich.
