OT — Sheriff Lee Baca tenders resignation

[spdrun]

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-baca-20140107,0,2601673.story

FBI is investigating him — wonder if he’ll find a nice, warm Central American country to retire to…

[CA renter]

Not surprising.

[paramount]

Arrest him now; nobody wants a fugitive situation.

[paramount]

106 NYPD/FDNY Arrested!

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/4-surrender-social-security-scam-article-1.1568664

[CA renter]

[quote=paramount]106 NYPD/FDNY Arrested!

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/4-surrender-social-security-scam-article-1.1568664%5B/quote%5D

No, 80 NYPD/FDNY arrested, 6 from other public agencies. We are not told the professions of the other alleged fraudsters.

——–

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.

http://manhattanda.org/press-release/da-vance-106-defendants-including-80-nypd-and-fdny-retirees-indicted-social-security-d
——–

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.

[spdrun]

Arrest him now; nobody wants a fugitive situation.

Then again, having him spend the rest of his sorry life in Costa Rica or Argentina will do the taxpayers a favor, since they’re not paying for his imprisonment. The worst penalty for a person like him is to die as an insignificant, powerless little foreigner.

[SK in CV]

[quote=CA renter][quote=paramount]106 NYPD/FDNY Arrested!

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/4-surrender-social-security-scam-article-1.1568664%5B/quote%5D

No, 80 NYPD/FDNY arrested, 6 from other public agencies. We are not told the professions of the other alleged fraudsters.

——–

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.
[/quote]

As to the bolded part, no it isn’t. Average annual payment isn’t anywhere near that much. I’m 58 and have earned max SS wages for most of the last 35 years and my estimated SSDI would be under $30K a year. Doesn’t diminish the crime any. But when reporters make these kinds of simple to refute errors, you have to wonder about the rest of the story.

[livinincali]

[quote=SK in CV]
As to the bolded part, no it isn’t. Average annual payment isn’t anywhere near that much. I’m 58 and have earned max SS wages for most of the last 35 years and my estimated SSDI would be under $30K a year. Doesn’t diminish the crime any. But when reporters make these kinds of simple to refute errors, you have to wonder about the rest of the story.[/quote]

Social Security Disability by itself is about $1300/month on average. Of course most fire and police have a separate disability fund that is run by the city they work for. For example NYPD has this program. http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycppf/html/tier_3/tier_3_disability_retirement.shtml

So for example a NYPD with 25 years of service making $100K per year would get $100 *(25*0.2) = $50K – (15K*.5) = $42500/yr.

[SK in CV]

[quote=livinincali]
Social Security Disability by itself is about $1300/month on average. Of course most fire and police have a separate disability fund that is run by the city they work for. For example NYPD has this program. http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycppf/html/tier_3/tier_3_disability_retirement.shtml

So for example a NYPD with 25 years of service making $100K per year would get $100 *(25*0.2) = $50K – (15K*.5) = $42500/yr.[/quote]

Right, but the article says that SSDI is $30 to $50K. I’m not even sure that they’re eligible for SSDI. Some public employees aren’t.

[Anonymous]

[quote=SK in CV]But when reporters make these kinds of simple to refute errors, you have to wonder about the rest of the story.[/quote]

What exactly does one have to wonder about?

That this story does not expose a culture of fraud in these organizations?

[SK in CV]

[quote=harvey][quote=SK in CV]But when reporters make these kinds of simple to refute errors, you have to wonder about the rest of the story.[/quote]

What exactly does one have to wonder about?

That this story does not expose a culture of fraud in these organizations?[/quote]

Is that what it does? Around a hundred charged. There are around 35,000 NYC cops. So that’s significantly less than 1 out of every 200 that are currently working. It certainly doesn’t reflect well on the NYPD or the NYFD, but is that really enough, absent other information, to call it a “culture of fraud”?

[spdrun]

0.5% of a given organization is actually a pretty high percentage.

[SK in CV]

[quote=spdrun]0.5% of a given organization is actually a pretty high percentage.[/quote]

Yeah, it is. But is it sufficient to reflect on the other 99.5% of the organization? I don’t think so. Don’t get me wrong. There are plenty of corrupt cops. In probably dozens of different ways. I just don’t think these charges mean much to the organization as a whole. If half of them come from the same precinct, that would mean a lot more.

My main gripe is with the reporting. If they’re collecting city disability payments, then the reporting should say that. It shouldn’t say they’re collecting social security disability in amounts far in excess of what’s believable.

[spdrun]

It’s also 0.5% that got caught. So far.

[Anonymous]

I think it’s reasonable assumption that only a small fraction of white collar crimes of this sort ever result in an arrest. The number of actual criminals in this situation is likely much higher.

If 100 employees of a bank that employed 35K people were arrested, I doubt many people would dispute the claim that the arrests exposed a culture of fraud in the organization.

[Author]

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