Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn charged the owners of a construction company on Friday with defrauding the nation’s largest school district in connection with more than $13.5 million worth of repairs.
Dalip Singh, 67, and Gurnirmal Singh, 64, of TEMCO Construction exploited undocumented immigrants without work authorization, falsified payroll records and eventually tried to destroy the evidence, according to the complaint. Both Singhs, who are not related, were arrested Friday, prosecutors announced.
“As alleged, the defendants lied to the [city’s Education Department] 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,” Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement.
TEMCO Construction, formerly based in Jamaica, Queens, before moving to Long Island, provides masonry, scaffolding and construction services to the city’s public schools.
Between 2017 and this year, prosecutors say TEMCO used undocumented labor and paid their workers in cash less than the wage required by New York State labor law and school system contracts — all while pocketing the difference.
Dalip Singh covered up the scheme on payrolls submitted to the city’s Education Department, according to the complaint. On those certified documents, he allegedly listed family members who didn’t do the repairs, omitted some workers who were undocumented, and inflated the pay of others. In some cases, employees had their wages docked on non-school-related jobs to offset legal pay, it read.
The employers then “attempted to conceal their fraud,” prosecutors say, telling workers to lie to investigators about their wages and hide or destroy records.
If found guilty of conspiring to commit wire fraud, the company’s owners could face up to 20 years in prison, according to a press release announcing the charges.
“New York City Public Schools expects that employees of vendors be paid consistent with contractual requirements — anything less is unacceptable and would be considered a breach of contract,” said schools spokeswoman Jenna Lyle, adding, “We cannot comment on a pending criminal action.”
Attorney information was not readily available for Dalip Singh and Gurnirmal Singh, whose case remained under seal as of early Friday afternoon.
