Lawyers for Lavallee, Hale and Esposito said the three men deny the charges. Minerva's lawyer could not be reached.
"It doesn't appear that anyone doubts that initially every single one of these 104 defendants was in fact disabled," said Esposito's lawyer, Brian Griffin. "It appears to be the extent of their disability that's in question."
Raymond Perini said his client, Lavallee, a Korean War vet who went to law school on the G.I. Bill, will regain his good name. "We're going to get that reputation back in court when he's found not guilty," he said.
Prosecutors said the men allegedly directed and coached hundreds of Social Security Disability Insurance applicants, including many retirees of the NYPD and FDNY, to lie about psychiatric conditions in order to obtain benefits.
The charges include grand larceny in the first and second degrees, and attempted grand larceny in the second degree. The remaining 102 defendants, all recipients of Social Security disability benefits, were charged with grand larceny in the second degree and attempted grand larceny in the second degree.
"It's a particularly cynical part of the ... scheme that approximately half of the defendants falsely claimed that their psychiatric disabilities were caused by their association with the terrorist attacks of September 11th," said District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. "This fraud not only forced federal taxpayers to finance the lifestyles of New York scammers, it also took away, importantly, the already limited resources we have for people who actually suffered from psychiatric disabilities. That includes, of course, the brave first responders who ran toward the fires on September 11th, and who now suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety and other serious but very real psychiatric disabilities."
【谎称因“9·11”事件心理受创 纽约警察、消防员骗巨额补助】相关文章:
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