LI woman stole cousin's death benefits, Brooklyn DA says
An Oceanside woman "allegedly attempted to defraud New York’s retirement system by impersonating a relative and claiming benefits to which she was not entitled," Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said Tuesday. He is shown on Dec. 19, 2018. Credit: Jeff Bachner
An Oceanside woman has been indicted on charges she impersonated her cousin to steal more than $135,000 in death benefits from the New York City Employees' Retirement System, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said Tuesday.
Akosua Agyeman, 48, was arraigned Tuesday before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Jill Konviser on an indictment charging her with first-degree identity theft, first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, first-degree falsifying of business records and second-degree grand larceny. She was released without bail and was ordered to return to court June 29, officials said.
According to the Brooklyn District Attorney's office, beginning in December 2017, Agyeman made a series of fraudulent filings with NYCERS claiming to be the daughter of Kwaku Duah, described as "a longtime employee of the New York City Transit Authority" who died Nov. 18, 2017. Officials said Duah had designated his daughter, Agyeman's cousin, as his beneficiary of the benefit paid when a NYCERS member dies before retirement.
Officials said Duah's daughter, who was the rightful beneficiary, had changed her name before being designated — and said Agyeman exploited that situation to impersonate her cousin to obtain the benefit.
Officials allege that using a Ghanaian passport, a birth certificate and an IRS taxpayer identification number in the cousin's name, Agyeman claimed the benefit from NYCERS. On May 1, 2020, NYCERS sent a check for $135,178 to Agyeman in Oceanside, officials said.
That check was deposited into an account at a Bethpage Federal Credit Union, officials said. Investigators from the Brooklyn District Attorney's office and the New York City Department of Investigation later determined Agyeman opened that bank account using a fake Delaware driver's license.
Investigators also found that, on Dec. 1, 2017, Agyeman visited the NYCERS customer service center in Brooklyn — where she submitted what proved to be "an invalid copy" of her cousin's birth certificate, while "inquiring about the process of receiving Duah's death benefit."
It was not immediately clear if Agyeman is represented by counsel.
“This defendant allegedly attempted to defraud New York’s retirement system by impersonating a relative and claiming benefits to which she was not entitled," Gonzalez said in a statement Tuesday.
Also in a statement, New York City Department of Investigation Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber said: “As charged in the indictment, this defendant impersonated her own cousin, including through the use of fraudulent documents, to obtain a $135,000 death benefit. In so doing, she stole from her cousin, the legal beneficiary, and from the New York City Employees’ Retirement System (NYCERS)."
John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”
