Greg:
Where I think you are heading are guys we refer to as "paper hangers". Yes, it's a known way that some guys generate $$$ just for the paper. But, it is not an easy issue to prove to the Board of Examiners, and for the few who went down that road, it's a lot of work to address this issue. Illegal?? IMHO, damn right!!.
Amazingly, I come upon a permit app with the Lic. EC that has a single digit license number. The signature is real, the seal is OK. I'm like wow!! Go to the site for a rough; SFD renov and addition, job is a mess. Call the phone #, leave a message; left a red tag at site. 2-3 days pass, I get a voice mail in my office , with a contact number. Excuse for mess was 'job was not ready for inspection, GC must have called to schedule.
Long story short, Many years back I worked for this guy. He was up in years back then. NJ lic. # are now in the 18,000 range. The guy I spoke to had no clue who "xxxxx" was, even though his signature is very readable, nor did he know where "xxxx" was. Funnier, "xxxx" is a white guy, and the guy on the job was African American.
"xxxx" used to hang out down with the rest of the NJ Snow Birds, in your home state, and probably is still there.
