United States Seeks Civil Forfeiture of $70,000 and Two Rolex Watches as Proceeds of Construction and Elder Fraud

BOSTON – The United States Attorney’s Office filed a civil forfeiture action to recover $70,000, in United States currency and two Rolex watches alleged to be proceeds of wire fraud and involved in money laundering.

Law enforcement seized these items on Jan. 20, 2024, following a traffic stop of Michael McInerney and Crystel O’Reilly, neither of whom had a driver’s license. McInerney and O’Reilly are Irish nationals and were not legally present in the United States. While inventorying their vehicle, officers found a white trash bag that contained $30,000 in one white sock and $40,000 inside a second sock and the two Rolex watches.

At the time of the traffic stop, law enforcement recognized McInerney as a suspected member of a transnational organized crime group that conducted construction, paving and roofing fraud schemes in the United States. The fraud schemes generally involved foreign nationals who pose as licensed contractors to induce homeowners, who were often elderly, to allow them to work on their homes. The foreign nationals often failed to pull required permits; performed unnecessary work; overcharged the homeowners; and disappeared when the homeowners discovered the fraud, expressed displeasure with the work, or threatened to report them to law enforcement. The foreign nationals bought jewelry and watches with the fraud proceeds in order to evade currency reporting requirements.

Following the stop, investigators obtained financial records and interviewed elderly homeowners in Somerville and Cambridge, Mass. who had written checks to McInerney, who is not legally authorized to work in the United States, for construction work. The Somerville homeowner, who was 75 years old, withdrew money from his retirement account to pay for the work and told investigators that the work was not completed and that he could not get in touch with the company after he paid them $199,500. The Cambridge homeowner, who was 78 years old years old, reported being charged $80,000 for work that should have cost no more than $30,000.

Investigators also learned that a homeowner in Washington, D.C., had obtained a default judgment against McInerney and an associate named Terrence Connors after writing checks totaling $60,000 to McInerney in August 2023. McInerney and Connors represented themselves to the homeowner as working for a legitimate roofing and masonry company. When the homeowner learned that the company was not legitimate, he confronted Connors, who threatened to tear up the roofing job if the homeowner did not pay an additional $20,000. The homeowner never saw Connors or McInerney again.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Quincy Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Annapurna Balakrishna of the Asset Recovery Unit is prosecuting the case.

The accusations in the complaint, and the description of the complaint, constitute allegations that certain property is subject to forfeiture. The United States must prove, by a standard of preponderance of the evidence, that the property is subject to forfeiture.