No, 80 NYPD/FDNY arrested, 6 from other public agencies. We are not told the professions of the other alleged fraudsters.
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Under the United States Social Security law, individuals are qualified as “disabled” and entitled to SSDI payments if they suffer from a disability that prevents them from assuming any job available to them in the national economy. The payment amount varies per recipient, but the average annual payment is approximately $30,000 to $50,000 for each recipient.
According to the indictment and documents filed in court, from approximately January 1988 to December 2013, the four principal defendants in this case operated together to direct and assist many hundreds of applicants to falsely claim disabilities in order to order to collect SSDI payments, in addition to their public pensions. The applicants claimed that they suffered a psychiatric condition that prevented them from working, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, or depression. Many of the defendants used their association with the events of September 11, 2001, as the cause of their psychiatric condition. Seventy-two of the defendants are also collecting pensions as retirees of the NYPD, eight from the New York City Fire Department, five from the New York Department of Correction, and one from the Nassau County Police Department.
As detailed in court papers, applicants were typically brought into the charged scheme by ESPOSITO, a retired member of the NYPD, or MINERVA, a disability consultant for the Detectives’ Endowment Association, the union that represents NYPD detectives. They would then refer applicants to LAVALLEE, an attorney who previously served as Assistant District Attorney and Chief of the Rackets Bureau in the Nassau County District Attorney’s office, and HALE, a key manager of the scheme under LAVALLEE, to submit the SSDI applications.
Although many of the NYPD and FDNY applicants had limited physical disabilities that legitimately entitled them to state disability pensions, these physical conditions did not entitle them to SSDI, which requires a complete inability to work. For that reason, according to the charges, to overcome the SSDI threshold, the applicants, with the help and direction of ESPOSITO, HALE, MINERVA and LAVALLEE, created false psychiatric conditions, typically depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder (“PTSD”).
HALE and ESPOSITO are accused of coaching applicants to falsely describe symptoms of depression and anxiety to doctors they had recruited, in order to build a record of psychiatric treatment over the course of approximately one year. Specifically, they instructed applicants on how to fail memory tests with plausibility, how to dress, and on their demeanor. Almost every application included identical descriptions of the applicants’ activities of daily living, such as:
“I nap on and off during the day.”
“I have the TV on to keep me company.”
“I was a healthy, active, productive person.”
“I’m up and down all night long.”
“My [family member] is always after me about my grooming.”
“I’m unable to perform any type of work activity in or out of the house.”
Before filing their SSDI applications, according to the charges, none of the defendants had a history of a psychiatric condition that would qualify them for SSDI benefits. While collecting their cash benefits, many of the applicants lived lifestyles that starkly contradicted the representations made on their applications.
For example, defendants often claimed that they rarely left their homes, did not travel, and had almost no social interactions with family and friends. But, according to court documents, applicants were in fact driving, traveling by air, engaging in recreational sports, and lifting heavy objects. Several of the defendants also were gainfully employed, including at energy and investment companies, private security and private eye firms, construction and landscaping, and even baking.
In some particularly striking examples, one defendant piloted a helicopter, another played blackjack in Las Vegas, another worked at a cannoli stand at the San Gennaro Festival in Manhattan, another rode a jet ski, and one defendant taught and performed mixed martial arts. And, notwithstanding that most defendants claimed they could not use a computer, many had Facebook pages, Twitter handles, and YouTube channels.
While PTSD/anxiety/depresion won’t necessarily prevent anyone from jet skiing or traveling, etc. (and I wonder if that could even be used as evidence against them in this case, IMO), these people apparently lied on their applications about their ability to perform certain tasks. That is clear-cut fraud, and I’m glad to see they are being prosecuted.
