Two men have been charged in a multi-year, multi-state construction fraud scheme that targeted at least 24 victims, including numerous elderly individuals, authorities in the City of Lambertville and federal law enforcement in New York City announced.
James Dinnigan, 27, of Ireland, and Martin Maughan, 31, of the United Kingdom, were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to a complaint unsealed in Manhattan federal court.
City of Lambertville Police Department Lt. Robert Brown said the investigation, which was conducted jointly with the FBI’s New York Field Office, began after a resident on North Main Street reported a $300,000 fraud during a construction project and impersonation of the city’s engineer.
Detective Cpl. Bast led the local investigation.
Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Matthew Podolsky said the defendants and their co-conspirators posed as legitimate home repair contractors and tricked homeowners into paying for unnecessary repairs.
“As alleged, these defendants and their co-conspirators carried out a brazen scheme to defraud vulnerable members of our community,” Podolsky said in a statement.
FBI New York Acting Assistant Director in Charge Leslie R. Backschies said the men allegedly enticed consumers with fraudulent home improvement advertisements before intentionally damaging property to extort additional costs.
Authorities said the scheme involved foreign nationals from Ireland and the United Kingdom illegally in the U.S., who falsely posed as contractors.
The scheme, which ran from at least October 2023 to February 2025, spanned New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and other states, authorities said.
The defendants allegedly made false statements to secure contracts and then tricked victims into paying for unwanted repairs.
In some cases, they intentionally damaging property, and they then allegedly used threats to force victims to pay tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, authorities said.
The defendants used cellphones, email, and bank accounts, including one in Manhattan, to communicate and receive payments, according to the complaint.
The two also reportedly operated websites for purported construction companies, Local Masonry and Construction and Pine Valley Home Improvements Inc.
The FBI identified more than two dozen victims, many of them elderly, who lost at least $1 million.
Dinnigan entered the U.S. on a tourist visa in April 2023 and overstayed. He was apprehended by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Champlain, New York, last Tuesday.
Maughan was ordered removed from the U.S. to the United Kingdom in October 2023 after being encountered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Texas in August 2023. He was arrested at Boston Logan International Airport on Feb. 7 as he was attempting to board a flight to Dublin, Ireland, authorities said.
Maughan has been transferred from state to federal custody, and Dinnigan, who currently in federal immigration custody, will be transferred to the Southern District of New York.
Each faces a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted, prosecutors said.
Podolsky praised the FBI’s New York and Philadelphia field offices, as well as U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and several local police departments, for their assistance in the investigation.
In addition to the New York City-based FBI, Lambertville police, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, FBI special agents from Philadelphia, the Lower Merion Township Police Department, Cheltenham Township Police Department, and Bernards Township Police Department assisted.
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