Cuomo: 90 attorneys' pensions 'potentially fraudulent'

New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Thursday that his office has found more than 90 attorneys around the state, including 20 on Long Island, who may have improperly been given credit for state pensions because of "potentially fraudulent" claims that they were employees of school districts and not ineligible outside contractors.

Cuomo said his office was considering bringing criminal or civil charges against the lawyers and seeking to recoup potentially "tens of millions of dollars" in pension monies that the lawyers may have improperly received at the expense of taxpayers in what he termed "basically a payroll padding scheme."

"It is egregious conduct and there is no excuse for the fact that it went on as long as it did," Cuomo said at a news conference in Albany. "And if I were a taxpayer, I would be offended. I am a taxpayer, by the way. I am offended."

The attorney general said he began his investigation in February in the wake of Newsday's stories.

"The issue actually started on Long Island and it has been expanding rapidly," Cuomo said. "The more we dig, the worse the situation gets."

Cuomo declined to identify any of the 90 lawyers under investigation for the scheme, but said "it was a great scam which has gone on for many years."

Six of the 20 Long Island attorneys identified by investigators as having received pension credits have died, according to sources familiar with the investigation. The other 14 include four who have not been previously linked to the pension situation in Newsday articles, according to the sources.

Those four attorneys include one who serves as vice chairman of Nassau County Comptroller Howard Weitzman's advisory panel on county auditing procedures. No charges have been brought against anyone.

In his news conference, Cuomo singled out an unnamed attorney as having collected "in excess of $700,000 in taxpayer-funded pension benefits." That attorney -- who sources identified as John Hogan, 78, of Binghamton -- in one year was simultaneously listed on the payrolls of seven school districts and a BOCES, Cuomo said.

Reached at his home, Hogan told a reporter, "I couldn't really comment."

Cuomo said that the 90 attorneys worked for 180 school districts around the state, including 30 on Long Island.

The felony charges sources say are under consideration include filing false claims, fraud and violation of the state's so-called Tweed Law, which enables the attorney general to pursue both criminal and civil charges.

Of the 14 on Long Island contacted by a reporter, all said they had done nothing wrong. Some noted that the granting of pension credits to school district attorneys was a system that had been going on for decades and is a practice that they inherited from the previous attorneys in the districts.

In his news conference, Cuomo dismissed that argument.

"We're talking about lawyers well versed in employment statutes who know that 'business as usual' is no excuse for breaking the law," Cuomo said. "In many instances, these were not simple misunderstandings but repeated acts of fraud."

Newsday previously has reported that 10 of the 14 attorneys included in Cuomo's investigation received credit for pensions because they were listed as employees of school districts whose hiring was approved by school boards.

The four other Long Island attorneys, who have not been previously identified, according to the sources, are:

Nicholas DeSibio, 70, of Hewlett, who is receiving a state pension of $65,945 a year, according to state comptroller records. DeSibio received the pension for work as an employee of the Island Park School District, as well as the Greater Atlantic Beach sewer district, the Liquidation Bureau in the state Insurance Department, and the Village of Island Park, according to the state comptroller's office.

In 2003, DeSibio was given credit for working full-time for the sewer district and, at the same time, credit for half of the year for both the school district and the liquidation bureau, according to the state records.

According to Island Park School District minutes, DeSibio remained on its payroll after retiring in July 2003 and changed his status from employer to independent contractor on March 31.

Terrence Smolev, 63, of Mineola, who is receiving a yearly pension of $4,143, according to state comptroller records. Smolev is also vice chairman of Nassau County Comptroller Howard Weitzman's audit advisory committee, was a longtime trustee of Hofstra University and currently is a trustee at Dowling College. Smolev was credited in the state pension system for working as an employee of the North Merrick School District between 1982 and 1999.

George Lipp Jr., 80, a former Bay Shore attorney now retired in Florida. Lipp collects a pension of $9,321, according to the state comptroller's office. He was credited with working for the Babylon, Island Trees and Levittown school districts.

Eugene Ginsberg, 79, of Garden City, who receives a $1,314-a-year pension, according to the controller. He was credited with working full time for the Malverne school district between 1980 and 1991.

Lipp declined to comment. DeSibio and Ginsberg did not return calls for comment. Smolev said he was unaware of any investigation by Cuomo and said he had done nothing wrong during his work for the North Merrick School District.

The other 10 attorneys under investigation who have been previously identified by Newsday are: William Cullen, Albert D'Agostino, Jerome Ehrlich, William Englander, Gilbert Henoch, Carol Hoffman, Dominick Minerva, Richard Nicolello, Lawrence Reich, and Leroy Van Nostrand.

None returned calls seeking comment on Cuomo's ongoing criminal investigation. Some of their attorneys said they had done nothing wrong.

"This is the farthest thing from a criminal case; nor should it be, because no criminal conduct occurred," said Hoffman's attorney, Kenneth Keating, of Garden City.

Staff writers Sandra Peddie and Eden Laikin contributed to this story.

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