Sam Esposito, seen here at a CB 9 meeting last year, was one of 28 individuals indicted Tuesday in a widespread Social Security fraud investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance. File photo
Sam Esposito, a former cop from Ozone Park who has sat on Community Board 9 for years, was one of 28 people arrested Tuesday and indicted in a massive ongoing Social Security fraud investigation, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said.
Tuesday’s arrests follow Vance’s announcement in early January that 106 defendants were charged with participating in a massive fraud against the federal Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits program that resulted in the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars from federal taxpayers.
Esposito’s father, Joseph Esposito, 64, also a former police officer, was previously arrested and charged with being one of the alleged kingpin of the operation, according to law officials.
Sam Esposito, 48, and the 27 others arrested Tuesday, many of whom are retired police and firefighters, were each charged with grand larceny in the second degree and criminal facilitation in the fourth degree.
“Last month’s indictment was the first step in ending a massive fraud against American taxpayers,” Vance said in a statement Tuesday. “Today, dozens of additional defendants have been charged with fabricating psychiatric conditions in order to fraudulently obtain Social Security disability insurance, a critically important social safety net reserved for those truly in need.”
Esposito, who has been collecting a police pension following his retirement from the NYPD, and the others, Vance said, are accused of “gaming the system by lying about their lifestyle, including their ability to work, drive, handle money, shop, and socialize, in order to obtain benefits to which they were not entitled.
According to prosecutors, some of those arrested lied about their health suffering following work they did on or after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
“Their lies were repetitive and extensive,” the DA continued.
Under the U.S. Social Security law, individuals who qualify as disabled are entitled to SSDI payments only 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 documents filed in court and statements made on the record in court, from approximately January 1988 to December 2013, the four principal defendants – Joseph Esposito, Raymond Lavallee, 83; Thomas Hale, 89; and John Minerva, 61 – are accused of allegedly directing SSDI applications, including many retirees of the NYPD and FDNY, to lie about their psychiatric conditions in order to obtain benefits to which they were not entitled, Vance said. The alleged operators of the scam then received cash payments in return for coaching the applicants.
The 28 individuals arrested Tuesday allegedly claimed that they suffered from a psychiatric condition that prevented them from working, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, or depression, according to the DA. Some of the defendants used their association with the events of Sept. 11, 2001 as the ostensible cause of their condition, Vance said.
Edward Ryan, the special agent-in-charge of the U.S. Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General, said the federal government will continue to investigate this fraud and asked individuals to contact them regarding such crimes at a special hotline set up specifically for the investigation: (800) 471-6012.
By Anna Gustafson
