Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance.
Eighty retired New York City police officers and firefighters have been arrested in one of the largest mental disability pension fraud scams in the United States.
The police officers and firefighters were among as many as 1,000 people who had made fabricated health claims for years in order to collect Social Security disability pensions.
Many of the suspects said that their actions in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks had left them traumatized and completely incapacitated, according to court papers.
The fraudsters worked in collusion with doctors and lawyers who helped them fake various mental disabilities, inflicting hundreds of millions of dollars on taxpayers.
But investigation has found that many of the pensioners were living stress-free lives.
The indictment, brought by the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., charges 106 suspects who have netted a total of $21.4 million. Four of the suspects are also accused of running the scheme.
The group includes an 83-year-old lawyer who has worked as an FBI agent, an 89-year-old prosecutor and pension consultant and a 61-year-old union representative for New York City police detectives, according to documents.
Å“For years, federal taxpayers have unwittingly financed the lifestyles of the defendants charged today,” Vance said during a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
Å“The Social Security Disability safety net exists to help those who are unable to help themselves. Many participants cynically manufactured claims of mental illness as a result of September 11th, dishonoring the first responders who did serve their city at the expense of their own health and safety,” he said.
Prosecutors said about 900 others, suspected of collecting up to $400 million in disability pensions, may also be indicted as the investigation proceeds.
HJ/HJ
With permission
Source: Press TV