Ex-NYPD Cops, Firefighters Charged With Disability Fraud

[Scientific Playa]

I'm wondering if they lose their pensions if convicted.

State Pension Forfeiture Laws

http://www.governing.com/gov-data/other/state-pension-forfeiture-laws.html

Article 3-B of Retirement and Social Security Law

Pensions of certain public officials and employees can be revoked for conviction of certain felonies related to public service.

___________________________________________


Ex-NYPD Cops, Firefighters Charged With Disability Fraud
More than 100 busted in one of the largest Social Security disability-fraud cases in U.S. history.

Updated Jan. 8, 2014 1:16 a.m. ET

Ex-police sergeant Richard Cosentino said he couldn't leave his house. Manhattan District Attorney's Office

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303933104579306270271026090

More than 100 people, including 72 former New York City police officers and eight former firefighters, were charged Tuesday in one of the largest Social Security disability-fraud cases in U.S. history, which authorities said cost taxpayers as much as $400 million over two decades.
The plot, allegedly under way since at least 1988, involved four facilitators who helped coach hundreds of applicants on how to convince the Social Security Administration that they were entitled to monthly disability payments because they were unable to work at any job due to psychiatric conditions, said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.
About half of the defendants "falsely claimed" that their psychiatric injuries were caused as a result of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Mr. Vance said at a news conference.

The arrests are the latest in a wave of crackdowns as investigators seek to tackle fraud in the Social Security Disability Insurance program, which has grown rapidly in recent years. In August, federal and local authorities arrested more than 70 people in Puerto Rico on charges related to disability fraud. A separate criminal investigation is under way into the possible relationship between a West Virginia Social Security judge and a disability lawyer in Kentucky.

Investigators have been targeting people who they allege should not have qualified for benefits, as well as some lawyers, doctors and others who profited from the arrangements. The scope of the alleged scheme wasn't clear, though authorities warned it eventually could include hundreds more.

Mr. Vance said the four people who oversaw the scheme included attorney Raymond Lavallee, 83 years old, and Thomas Hale, 89, who worked as a manager under him. The others— Joseph Esposito, 64, and John Minerva, 61—are former NYPD officers who helped to recruit the other 102 defendants. All four pleaded not guilty at their arraignment Tuesday.
Mr. Lavallee and the three others "coached the applicants on how to describe the symptoms of depression and anxiety during the application process," Mr. Vance said. "Specifically they instructed them on how to intentionally fail memory tests, how to dress when they presented themselves and how to present their demeanor."

Authorities said they began catching on to the scam around 2008, when investigators began noticing that nearly all of applications had the same handwriting and contained boilerplate descriptions of their ailments.

When applications were granted, the four managers received cash kickbacks ranging between $20,000 and $50,000 in return for their help in submitting the paperwork in each case, Mr. Vance said.

The men are charged with filing fraudulent applications. The group includes 72 retired NYPD officers, eight retired FDNY firefighters, five former corrections officers and a former police officer from Nassau County.

Mr. Minerva currently is employed by the Detectives' Endowment Association, the NYPD detectives union, as a disability consultant. Mr. Lavallee once served as the chief of the rackets bureau at the Nassau County District Attorney's office.

According to prosecutors, authorities used wiretaps and monitored Internet activity as part of the investigation, finding that those who claimed severe disabilities were leading active lives despite assertions that they were "unable to perform basic life skills like cooking for themselves, grooming themselves, paying bills and socializing."

"Many said they could no longer drive or be out of the house for more than a short walk around the block," Mr. Vance said. "The investigation revealed lifestyles that were very different."

Screenshots of websites included in the indictment show defendants riding motorcycles and Jet Skis, and one who was running a martial-arts school, going as far as setting his movements to music and uploading them on YouTube.



Prosecutors showed another in which defendant Richard Cosentino, 49, a former NYPD sergeant who allegedly claimed ailments, including an inability to socialize or leave the house, was seen on a boat holding a large marlin he reeled in during a fishing trip.

Most defendants were arraigned Tuesday before Justice Daniel Fitzgerald in Manhattan Criminal Court. All pleaded not guilty and were released on their own recognizance.

—Adam Janos contributed to this article.

New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton leaves a news conference about a Social Security disability fraud bust. In the foreground is a photo of a defendant holding a swordfish during a fishing trip. Keith Bedford for The Wall Street Journal

 

[Scientific Playa]

Photo by Manhattan District Attorney's Office



The 9/11 Scam: New York’s Disability Disgrace
They said they were too traumatized to serve and protect. How the NYPD built a fraud case against dozens of police and firefighters who prosecutors say duped doctors and cashed in.
Dishonor became absolute disgrace with the news that more than half of the 80 retired cops and firefighters arrested in New York for fraudulently seeking Social Security disability benefits had used the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as a pretext.

“These links to 9/11 are not accurate,” Police Commissioner William Bratton noted at a big, multiagency press conference that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office held following the Tuesday arrests.

Bratton summarized his reaction in a word.

“Disgust.”

He reminded everyone of those who lost their lives at the World Trade Center and of those who continue to suffer from life-threatening illnesses related to 9/11. He said of the accused scamsters, “They disgraced themselves and embarrassed their families.”

On either side of Bratton and the other officials were two blown-up photos set upon easels. One was of retired cop Glenn Lieberman, who had received $175,758.40 from Social Security in addition to his NYPD pension after allegedly fraudulently attesting that he had been so traumatized by 9/11 that he was barely functional, unable to drive or shop or handle money. The picture shows him on a jet ski, flashing a big smile and giving the finger with both hands.

The other photo is of retired cop Richie Cosentino, who received $207,639.70 from Social Security under the same pretext, using nearly identical language. This picture was posted on his Facebook page and it shows him triumphantly holding a big sailfish fish he has just caught.

“It was an awesome day off the coast of Costa Rica,” he wrote.

He had better hope that the prosecutors do not take note of the date of the posting.

“September 11, 2012.”

On the 11th anniversary of 9/11, Cosentino clearly did not imagine that this photo would be shown at a press conference with him, not the fish, on display as the captured one.

As Bratton explained it, the investigation had commenced after Social Security investigators noticed that a considerable number of retired cops who had secured psychiatric disability awards had also applied for pistol permits.

“So we had a discrepancy,” Bratton said.

As the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau joined the probe, it was determined that many of these folks had used the same psychiatrists to substantiate their claims and described their symptoms as if from a common script:

“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 [fill in the 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.”

The investigators also noted that the subjects used the same Long Island lawyer, Raymond Lavalle, a former FBI agent and onetime head of the Nassau County District Attorney’s rackets bureau. Some of the subjects were supposedly referred to Lavalle by John Minerva, who serves as a “disability consultant” with the NYPD Detectives Endowment Association. The subjects are said to have been coached by another “disability consultant” named Thomas Hale and by a retired cop named Joseph Esposito.

An intercepted phone conversation on January of last year recorded Esposito telling a subject who is about to be examined by Social Security officials, “When you get there, usually the first question they ask you is, ‘How did you get here?’ You’re gonna say, ‘My sister drove me.’ The next question they generally ask is ‘Who does the cooking, cleaning, shopping in your house?’ You’re gonna to say, ‘My mother.’”

Esposito goes on, “When you get to see the doctor, he’s gonna ask you questions. He’s not trying to trick you… They just want to see if you can concentrate. They’ll say to you, ‘But what do you do with yourself all day? How do you spend your day?’ You’re gonna tell ‘em, ‘I don’t sleep well at night. I’m up three, four times. Usually, I nap on and off during the day. I put the television on, you know, I keep changing channels ‘cause I can’t concentrate on the television. Just to hear a voice in the house.’”

Defendants can be seen playing softball or teaching martial arts or selling cannolis at a street festival at a time when they were supposedly too psychologically devastated to function.
Esposito continues, “And they’re liable to say, ‘Spell the word ‘world’, so you go 'W-R-L-D.’ Then they’re gonna say, ‘Spell it backwards.’ You think about it, and you can’t spell it backwards. Then, they’re liable to say. ‘From a hundred, subtract seven.’ You know, a hundred, 93, and then you’re trying to concentrate, and make it to 86 or 85, you know. You’re not too sure. Then they might tell you, ‘I’m going to tell you three things to remember. A spoon, a fork, and a dish,’ and they’re going to ask you later on in the conversation to remember them. You remember one of them.”

He advises, “When you’re talking to the guy, don’t look directly at him. You know, put your head down now and then, don’t answer right away. You know, pause for a second. You’re just trying to show that, you know, you’re depressed. …You don’t have any desire for anything, and if you can, you pretend to have panic attacks.”


Esposito himself looked pretty depressed as he, Lavalle, Hale, and Minerva were led in handcuffs down an 11th-floor hallway in a Manhattan courthouse on Tuesday afternoon.

The four alleged ringleaders sat in a row at the defendant’s table before Judge Daniel Fitzgerald. Their lawyers and the prosecutors had already agreed on $1 million bail each for the 81-year-old Lavalle and the 89-year-old Hale, $500 for 70-year-old Esposito and $250,000 for 59-year-old Minerva.

The prosecutors told the judge that the case is just the first stage of a larger investigation of a scheme that ran for at least 26 years and may involve as many as 1,000 claimants who fraudulently obtained some $400 million. The 102 people presently charged, including 22 civilians as well as the retired cops and firefighters, collected a total of $21.4 million. Lavalle and his three pals allegedly pocketed a cut of the retroactive lump sum ofas much as $100,000 that each claimant received.

All four pleaded not guilty, as did each of the lesser defendants who appeared before the judge during the day. Those sorry souls arrived in handcuffs, their heads bowed, their shoes without laces as part of the standard procedure during booking. They included a retired NPYD sergeant named Scott Greco who sought to thwart the news photographers as he emerged from the courtroom after arraignment by pulling his black knit cap down over his face. He promptly walked directly into a wall.

“At least he laughed, too,” a photographer noted.

Among the other defendants was a onetime cop named Vincent LaMantia, who became a firefighter before retiring, He allegedly secured $148,876.40 in fraudulent disability payments.

“Which he then used to fund his lifestyle,” the prosecutor said.

The prosecutor reported that this lifestyle included travel to Indonesia and various other adventures.

“He brags about it in a series of YouTube videos,” the prosecutor said.

Another defendant, retired cop Michael DeMartino, was accused of securing $266,633.30 in fraudulent claims. He was already out on $750,000 bail after being charged with selling cocaine to an undercover cop.

DeMartino’s lawyer, Marc Cohen, contended that doctors independent of the purported conspiracy support his client’s disability claim. Cohen also said he had a report from DeMartino’s former commander commending him for his actions on 9/11 and during the days that followed.

“I have a hero they’re asking to remand,” Cohen said.

The judge said he could not just overlook the drug charge and ordered DeMartino held on $15,000 bail. Cohen asked that his client at least be placed in protective custody.

DeMartino stepped away, followed by another defendant and then another and then another, each of them given a big brown envelope with the name on it containing a copy of the indictment and a bail letter summarizing a case that seems devastatingly strong.

The evidence includes photos as damning as the ones that were displayed at the press conference. Defendants can be seen flying a helicopter or playing softball or teaching martial arts or riding a motorcycle or selling cannolis at a street festival at a time when they were supposedly too psychologically devastated to function.

The 10 cops not yet in custody included Lieberman, the one seen in a photo giving the double finger from a jet ski. He was expected to surrender and be arraigned by Wednesday.

The image is the very opposite of the images of the cops and firefighters who answered pure evil with absolute good on 9/11.

“The brazenness is shocking,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance rightly said.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/08/the-9-11-scam-new-york-s-disability-disgrace.html

 

[Street Knowledge]

My cousin is in the nypd and he's Plus the the benefits/perks are off the chain

 

[Scientific Playa]

My cousin is in the nypd and he's Plus the the benefits/perks are off the chain

tell him to keep his nose clean so he can get his 20 and out in.

 

[Trip]

Very rarely is the government ever policed- considering they're actually going after police and firemen it's pretty certain that these guys are guilty. shyt is sad. fukk them.

 

[Scientific Playa]

NYPD, FDNY members cashed in on bogus 9/11 woes as part of massive $400M Social Security fraud: prosecutor
Dozens of former cops and firefighters claiming 9/11 trauma were among the 106 indicted for gaming the Social Security disability system to take early retirement and leech off the taxpayers, authorities said.
Comments (211)
By Shayna Jacobs , Rocco Parascandola AND Corky Siemaszko / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Photo from Facebook page of Glenn Lieberman, who is accused of participating in a Social Security disability scam to the tune of $175,758.40 according to the Manhattan DA's office.



They spat on the memory of the real victims of 9/11.

Dozens of former city cops and firefighters used the 2001 terror attacks as an excuse to fund carefree lifestyles on the taxpayer’s dime, authorities said Tuesday.

The former NYPD and FDNY members — who claimed to have suffered stress-related woes from the World Trade Center attacks — were among 106 people indicted for a longstanding Social Security disability scam, officials said.

A former Brooklyn cop, Glenn Lieberman, 44, became the unwitting poster boy for the sprawling ripoff ring, which includes 71 other retired city cops, eight former firefighters and five ex-correction employees.

Lieberman, accused of being part of the crooked crew that soaked taxpayers for $21.5 million, showed his contempt in an undated photo released by prosecutors with a sick grin and two extended middle fingers.

Joe Marino; Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News
The alleged ringleaders of the disability scam that dated back to 1988.
He and the former cops and firefighters were coached by ringleaders to act dysfunctional and steered to shady doctors who helped green-light disability payments of anywhere from $30,000 to $50,000 a year, the 205-count indictment charges.

“I can only express my disgust at the actions of the individuals involved in this scheme,” Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said.

He said he was particularly chagrined that 72 former members of the NYPD “disgraced themselves, embarrassed their families.”

“The idea that many of them chose the events of 9/11 to claim as the bases for this disability brings further dishonor to themselves,” Bratton added.

NYPD retiree Richard Cosentino felt good enough for marlin fishing in Costa Rica.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. suggested there might be additional indictments beyond those announced Tuesday by the time they wrap up the probe. The scammers operated from January 1988 until last month, and some 1,000 people filed fraudulent claims for as much as $400 million, Vance said.

The suspects flaunted their money and carefree lifestyle on social media, apparently never dreaming they would be caught.

“The brazenness is shocking,” said Vance.


Take Lieberman, an ex-Brooklyn South Gangs officer who quit the force in 2006 after 19 years on the job and collected $175,758.40 in disability payments based on a bogus claim of having a psychiatric disorder, prosecutors charged.

Surveillance photo shows Darrin Lamantia, a cop who retired on a disability claim, playing basketball.
But the ex-cop, who now lives in Palm Beach, Fla., doesn’t look like a tortured soul as he sits on a Jet-Ski and flips a pair of birds in the photo.

Lieberman, who is charged with second-degree grand larceny and criminal solicitation, could not be reached for comment. He faces up to 15 years in prison.

But he was not the only suspect who lived the good life thanks to the fraudulent payments, officials said.


Vincent Lamantia, 43, a retired NYPD officer, used the $150,000 in disability money he collected between May 2010 and June 2013 to “fund his lifestyle,” Assistant District Attorney Bryan Serino said.

“He bragged about what he was doing in a series of YouTube videos,” Serino added.

ROBERTO BOREA/AP
Workers sift through the pile of rubble at the World Trade Center after the 9/11 terror attacks.
RELATED: BERNIE KERIK RIPS ATTORNEY JOE TACOPINA IN BAR COMPLAINT

Richard Cosentino, a 49-year-old retired NYPD officer who now lives in New Hampshire, posted a photo of himself on Facebook with a massive marlin he caught.

“It was an awesome day off the coast of Costa Rica,” he wrote on Sept. 11, 2012, while many New Yorkers were marking the anniversary of the terror attacks.

Prosecutors say Cosentino stole nearly $208,000 between May 2008 and June 2013. He appears happy and functional in his picture.

Louis (Shidoshi) Hurtado, a 60-year-old former NYPD officer, has collected a whopping $470,395.20 since June 1989.

This flow chart provided by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office shows the layers of the scam and the alleged ringleaders.
But being diagnosed with psychiatric problems didn’t stop him from running his own mixed martial arts school outside Tampa and boasting on its website about serving as a “personal bodyguard” to stars including Sean Connery and James Caan.

Prosecutors said the four ringleaders of the scheme should have known better.


Raymond Lavallee, 83, of Massapequa, L.I., accused of being the brains of the operation, is a former FBI agent who once ran the rackets bureau at the Nassau County DA’s office.

Thomas Hale, 89, of Bellmore, L.I., who allegedly served as Lavallee’s right-hand man, is a pension consultant.

Civilian worker Joseph Morrone (center) helps dish cannolis at the San Gennaro festival.
Joseph Esposito, 64, of Valley Stream, L.I., a retired New York police officer, allegedly recruited many of the crooked cops and firefighters.

And John Minerva, 61, of Malverne, L.I., also allegedly steered people into the scam. He has been suspended from the Detectives Endowment Association.

The four alleged ringleaders are charged with first- and second-degree grand larceny and attempted second-degree grand larceny. Each faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

Esposito said nothing when he turned himself in earlier Tuesday.

John Stefanowski, an ex-cop, loves golf.
“While these are serious allegations, we were aware that they were coming,” his lawyer, Brian Griffin, said. “We did not avoid them.”

The lawyers for the other accused ringleaders protested their clients’ innocence.

Minerva’s lawyer, Glenn Hardy, said: “My client’s involvement in this scheme was minimal at best.”

Joseph Conway, who represents Hale, said his client was a “decorated World War II veteran.”

“For the last 30 years, he’s run a legitimate consulting company,” Conway said. “He vehemently denies any wrongdoing.”

John Famularo, an ex-Finest and motorcycle enthusiast, is accused of taking more than $340,000 in the scam.
Lavallee’s lawyer, Raymond Perini, said his client is a Korean War vet and former G-man who investigated organized crime in New York and Miami.

 

[Scientific Playa]

“He’s denied each and every allegation,” Perini said.

In an 11-page bail letter addressed to Justice Daniel Fitzgerald, prosecutors said cops seeking to claim a disability would seek out Esposito or Minerva, who would then steer them to Hale and Lavallee.

But it was Esposito who “coached” the applicants on what to say to doctors and urged them to “pretend” to have “panic attacks.”

JB NICHOLAS FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said he can only express his disgust over Social Security scheme.
“You’re gonna tell ’em, ‘I don’t sleep well at night,’ ” Esposito was caught on a wiretap telling one defendant, Jacqueline Powell. “I’m up three, four times.”

Esposito and the other ringleaders got a kickback for every patient diagnosed with a stress-related illness, prosecutors charged. So did at least two doctors who were part of the scam.

None of the doctors involved has been named or indicted but they could face charges at a later date, officials said.

The DA’s office took on the probe after a Social Security official noticed a series of applications that all seem to be written with the same hand and that all had similar diagnoses.

The NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau joined the probe and uncovered the retired officers allegedly participating in the ripoff.

Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said the union doesn’t “condone anyone filing false claims.”

 

[Brosef]

scum of the Earth