Post-Sandy cases of fraud growing

TRENTON, N.J. — After superstorm Sandy flooded the first floor of his New Jersey home with 4 feet of water, Rich Bindell shelled out tens of thousands of dollars to a contractor he knew was approved by the state and had done other work in his town.

Five years after the storm, the construction project remains unfinished and the contractor faces up to 10 years in prison after admitting this month to scamming more than 30 homeowners and employees of about $1.9 million.

James “Jaime” Lawson is one of more than 200 people charged in New Jersey with $11 million worth of Sandy-related fraud in a list that continues to grow. Most of those cases involved homeowners filing fraudulent applications for relief funds, but others have been contractors like Lawson.

Bindell contacted contractors to get price quotes and learned about Lawson in the summer of 2015.

The nearly $150,000 project would take six to eight months to complete, Bindell said he was told.

The project sat while Bindell and his family, in their rented home, reached out to Lawson by phone and texts. It was then Bindell received a call from an adviser with the government’s Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation and Mitigation program, which had revoked Lawson’s permit for lack of insurance.

Bindell received much of his money back from the government, but is still out about $20,000 from the scam.