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LI accountant, 2 lawyers lose state pension credits

BY SANDRA PEDDIE AND EDEN LAIKIN | sandra.peddie@ne

May 8, 2008

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has removed two Long Island attorneys from the state retirement system and rescinded some pension credits of an accountant from Long Island after finding the three had been improperly reported as public employees, spokesman Dennis Tompkins said yesterday.

The action affects Franklin Square school attorney William Cullen and, for the first time, two people reported as employees of a special district - attorney Nat Swergold and accountant Salvatore Evola of Sanitation District No. 1 in Lawrence.

The action follows a series of Newsday stories detailing how private attorneys - already paid thousands of dollars in legal fees - were able to get into the state retirement system by being improperly reported as public employees. Newsday also has reported on the generous salaries and benefits paid to employees of special districts in Nassau County.

Since the stories, the state attorney general, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service and Nassau district attorney all have launched criminal and civil investigations.

"We are moving forward, case by case," DiNapoli said in a statement.

The comptroller also took action yesterday against three upstate attorneys, revoking the retirement system membership of two and taking away some pension credits from a third. None of those affected by the action have begun collecting pensions.

The state comptroller's office would not estimate the amount of pensions the six individuals would have received, but they are believed to be tens of thousands of dollars annually.

Swergold and Cullen each plan to fight DiNapoli's decision.

Swergold, 72, who was criticized in a 2005 Nassau comptroller's audit for being paid as both a public employee and a consultant, had accrued nearly 36 years in the retirement system.

"Is a convicted felon entitled to greater protection than Nat Swergold?" he said of himself, referring to a Newsday story Tuesday about former Roslyn Superintendent Frank Tassone, who is collecting an annual $173,495 state pension while in prison for embezzling $2.2 million from the district. "This is craziness."

Cullen's attorney, Kevin Keating of Garden City, said his client, too, would fight the action.

"Bill Cullen is fully entitled to the service credits, and we will be fighting this," Keating said.

Cullen, 56, will lose approximately 18 years of pension credits. He recently sent a letter to the comptroller asking to withdraw from the pension system, but Keating said he wrote it only to avoid the appearance of impropriety and as a reaction to "adverse publicity."

Evola, 42, has accrued nearly 20 years of credits but will lose 9.7 years, Tompkins said. His employment status was also criticized in the county comptroller's audit.

Records show Evola has been employed by the Village of Cedarhurst, Sanitation District No. 1, Island Park School District and Inwood Fire District at the same time. He also worked as a partner in a private accounting firm. Evola said he has left the Island Park School District and no longer maintains his private practice.

Upstate, the comptroller revoked the pension membership of attorneys Maria Massaro, 39, of Niagara Falls, and M. Cornelia Cahill, 51, of Schenectady. The office also rescinded some pension credits of attorney Maureen Harris, 38, of Slingerlands.

Harris, a former partner of the influential Albany law firm of Girvin and Ferlazzo, couldn't be reached for comment. Although she is losing one year of credit she got through the Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery BOCES, she will keep credits she has earned as a commissioner of the New York State Public Service Commission, Tompkins said.

Cahill and Massaro couldn't be reached for comment.

Newsday previously reported that Harris and Cahill are under investigation by state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who has criminal jurisdiction, for possibly improperly obtaining pension credits from an upstate BOCES district. In addition, the paper has reported that Cullen has been offered a settlement of his case by Cuomo's office.

Staff writer Robert Kessler contributed to this story.