2 LI Men, Owners Of Construction Company, Defrauded NYC Public Schools With $13 Million In Repairs: Feds

BROOKLYN, NY — The owners of a construction company, both from Nassau County, have been charged with defrauding New York City with over $13 million in public school repairs, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District said.

Dalip Singh, 67, of East Meadow, and Gurnirmal Singh, 64, of Westbury, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a scheme to submit falsified payroll records to the New York City Department of Education (DOE) about the wages and benefits paid by TEMCO to employees performing repairs on New York City public schools, U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said.

From approximately December 2017 to April 2025, TEMCO maintained an office in Jamaica, Queens. In April, TEMCO moved its office to Hicksville.

According to the criminal complaint, between 2017 and 2025, Dalip Singh and Gurnirmal Singh,
who are not related, hired undocumented aliens without legal authorization to work in the United
States to provide masonry, scaffolding and construction services at New York City public
schools and DOE buildings at below the prevailing wage required by New York State labor law and contracts with the DOE, prosecutors said.

Dalip Singh falsely stated that TEMCO had paid its employees the prevailing wage when in fact, the employees had been paid far less, often in cash, or had their wages on other jobs lowered to offset the prevailing wages on the DOE work. They pocketed the difference that their employees were underpaid, Nocella said.

“As alleged, the defendants lied to the DOE about using undocumented workers, and deprived those workers—who toiled long days, school holidays, and weekends—of proper compensation they had earned, so that they could line their pockets and bank accounts on New York City’s tab,” Nocella said.

As further alleged in the complaint, the defendants attempted to conceal their fraud, directing their workers to lie to New York City investigators about the wages they received. When Dalip Singh suspected that law enforcement agents were investigating, he directed his employees to conceal and destroy records, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

“The Singhs allegedly laundered more than $13 million dollars from the City of New York, underpaying their workers in cash and pocketing the difference," said Harry Clavis, IRS Criminal Investigations New York Special Agent in Charge. "These two men took advantage of both the taxpayers and undocumented workers, then tried to destroy the evidence."

If convicted of wire fraud, they each face up to 20 years in prison.