Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) — More than 100 retirees, most of whom worked for the New York City police and fire departments, were charged with stealing benefits from a federal disability program by lying about psychiatric conditions.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said today that an indictment was filed against 106 defendants, including 80 police and fire department retirees and four people accused of directing others to falsely seek disability payments. The indicted individuals received about $21.5 million in fraudulent benefits, prosecutors said.
Many of the defendants lied about having conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder and depression from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to obtain benefits from the Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits program, Vance's office said. The scheme may have involved as many as 1,000 applicants and $400 million in benefits, prosecutors said.
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