Irish, UK Men Part Of Construction Fraud Targeting Homeowners: FBI

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — A sophisticated ring of con artists targeted Hudson Valley homeowners, victimizing veterans and senior citizens in the process, feds say.

Matthew Podolsky, the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of NY, and Leslie R. Backschies, the Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the NY Field Office of the FBI, announced last week the unsealing of a complaint in Manhattan federal court charging 27-year-old James Dinnigan, a/k/a "Charlie Ward," of Ireland, and 31-year-old Martin Maughan, a/k/a "Lawrence Rogers," of the U.K., with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a multi-year, multi-state organized construction fraud scheme targeting homeowners.

The FBI has identified over two dozen homeowners, including elderly and vulnerable victims, who have lost at least $1 million as a result of the scheme, officials said. One of those victims was a 41-year-old United States Marine Corps veteran in Rockland County, while another one of the victims was a 73-year-old woman in Yonkers.

"As alleged, these defendants and their co-conspirators carried out a brazen scheme to defraud vulnerable members of our community by posing as legitimate home repair contractors and tricking homeowners into paying for thousands of dollars in unnecessary and unwanted home repairs," Podolsky said. "Today’s charges should serve as a reminder that this Office and its law enforcement partners are committed to investigating and bringing to justice those who seek to enrich themselves by victimizing vulnerable members of our community."

Dinnigan and Maughan were each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries up to 20 years in prison.

According to court documents, between October 2023 and February 2025, Dinnigan and Maughan participated in a construction fraud scheme involving victims in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and other states. Members of the scheme were usually foreign nationals from Ireland and the U.K. who were illegally in the U.S., and pretended to be legitimate home repair contractors.

In order to get hired by the victims, participants in the scheme made false statements to victims about their operation of legitimate home repair businesses, their occupation as contractors or engineers, and about home improvement and construction projects the victims needed to have done, according to authorities.

After being hired, the fraudsters then tricked victims into paying for additional unwanted or unnecessary home repairs and construction, including by purposefully damaging or destroying the victims' property, feds say. They then forced victims, including through threats, into paying them tens or hundereds of thousands of dollars, prosecutors contend.

Dinnigan, Maughan, and other members of the scheme communicated with the victims using cellphones and email. The victims often wrote checks and transferred money to bank accounts controlled by participants in the scheme, including an account at a bank in Manhattan.

The fraudsters also operated websites in the names of at least two purported construction companies: Local Masonry and Construction and Pine Valley Home Improvements, Inc., according to investigators.

In April 2024, a 41-year-old U.S. Marine Corps veteran, who lives in Rockland County, was searching for a company to perform repairs on his back patio. The victim has a background in engineering and home inspections. Between April 2024 and May 2024, he wrote checks totaling around $14,000 to LMC, which were deposited by Dinnigan at a NJ check-cashing business, according to the DOJ.

The victim found LMC online and believed it was a legitimate business based on its website and internet research. He called LMC and spoke with a man who seemed to have an Irish accent and who went by the name "Charlie." He later positively identified Dinnigan as "Charlie" in a photo, investigators said.

The Rockland County man then hired LMC for his patio work.

As with other victims, he reported that the company's workers appeared to be day laborers, the DOJ said. He also noticed that the workers did not seem to know how to properly install the cement that they were using to repair his patio, according to the allegations. Based on his own experience with engineering, the victim said he had to stop LMC's workers several times because of safety concerns. On one occasion, LMC's workers began to dig a trench without calling the natural gas company to check for gas lines, according to court filings.

The veteran eventually became frustrated with the quality of LMC's work and the apparent lack of knowledge of LMC's workers, and sent LMC a contract termination letter, and canceled a future payment of $10,000 once he decided that LMC’s work was unsatisfactory and not up to code, the FBI said. He also learned that although LMC claimed to be fully licensed, the company was not actually licensed in Rockland County, and never sought permits for their work, federal prosecutors said.

The victim told investigators that he ending up having to pay a different contractor about $10,000 to repair the damage caused by LMC.

Another one of the victims was a 73-year-old woman in Yonkers, who paid LMC almost $400,000 between October 2023 and November 2023 for several home improvement projects, of which around $172,000 was deposited by Dinnigan, according to court filings. Prosecutors say the victim's experience was consistent with that of other victims in the scheme. LMC initially quoted an apparently reasonable rate for a specific home improvement project, according to investigators. However, over time, LMC's representative "Charlie," believed to be Dinnigan, continued to insist on additional payment for additional projects.

Dinnigan entered the U.S. on April 4, 2023, using a tourist visa, feds say. There is no known documentation showing that he departed the U.S. as required, or that he applied for and received authorization to legally remain in the U.S., according to officials. On February 25, Dinnigan was found by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Champlain.

On August 9, 2023, Maughan encountered CBP officers in the vicinity of Laredo, Texas. He was ordered removed from the U.S. to the U.K. on October 30, 2023. According to Maughan's order of removal, he was prohibited from reentering or attempting to reenter the U.S. for five years. However, om February 7, he was found inside the U.S. when he was arrested at Boston Logan International Airport right before departing on a flight to Ireland, immigration officials said.

"James Dinnigan and Martin Maughan allegedly enticed prospective consumers with illegitimate home improvement advertisements before intentionally destroying their property to extort unanticipated additional costs," Backschies said. "These illegal foreign nationals allegedly laid the foundation to prey upon a vulnerable population across the northeast, ultimately stealing a significant sum from elderly victims. The FBI remains committed to protecting our citizens from any fraudulent company attempting to cement false promises to garner illicit profits."

Anyone who has information about this scheme or believes they have been a victim of the defendants or their co-conspirators, is being asked by law enforcement to contact the FBI online, and reference this case.

Podolsky praised the investigative work of the FBI's New York and Philadelphia field offices. He also thanked CBP; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations; Lower Merion Police Department; Cheltenham Police Department; Bernards Township Police Department; and Lambertville Police Department for their assistance in the investigation.

The case is being prosecuted by the Violent and Organized Crime Unit.