His pension on hold

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has suspended the

$106,700-a-year pension of a Valley Stream attorney who had received 21 years

of retroactive pension credits from Nassau County and Hempstead Town even

though he had been paid as an independent contractor and not as an employee,

officials said Friday.

Albert D'Agostino, 64, will have to pay back most, if not all, of the

roughly $791,360 he's collected since retiring in October 2000, if DiNapoli's

office determines he was not a legitimate employee, officials said. In

addition, he would have to pay back $83,015 in health benefits he has received

from the county.

"We suspended his pension while we look at all the entities that reported

him as an employee, to see if any were eligible," said spokeswoman Emily

DeSantis. She added that the comptroller would recalculate his pension and

"most likely reduce his benefit."

Newsday, which wrote about D'Agostino's retroactive pension credits two

weeks ago, has reported on a number of attorneys who, while working as

independent contractors for school districts, also received state pension

credits as if they were employees. Friday, DiNapoli said more pensions could be

suspended.

"We'll continue to dig until we're confident that state pensions are only

going to those people that rightly earned them," he said.

D'Agostino also was reported as an employee by three school districts -

Lawrence, Valley Stream 30 and North Merrick - and the Village of Valley

Stream, while being paid additional fees as a contractor. He accumulated a

total of 28 years' credit in the state retirement system.

D'Agostino declined to comment Friday.

Meanwhile, School Watch, a Long Island advocacy group, posted a statement

on its Web site urging a boycott of law firms "involved in the pension

scandal."

"We as taxpayers simply cannot sit back and continue to feed these 'fat

cat' lawyers and their firms ... " the group said. "Millions of dollars have

been stuffed in the pockets of these firms and attorneys, and it must stop."

In deciding in 2000 to give D'Agostino the retroactive credits, the state

relied on letters from two prominent people connected to the Nassau County

Planning Commission, an advisory board where D'Agostino served as part-time

counsel. The state also considered his 1099 payments - tax forms used to pay

independent contractors, not employees.

Nassau County Comptroller Howard Weitzman said D'Agostino was placed on the

county payroll in 1999. When he retired in 2000 and secured the retroactive

credits, he also got lifetime health benefits.

Weitzman said the county has paid $83,015 so far for D'Agostino's family

health coverage. If DiNapoli determines that D'Agostino is not entitled to the

pension, the county would end his benefits and seek to recover the $83,015 from

D'Agostino.

Weitzman has asked the state to refund the $102,246 the county paid to fund

D'Agostino's pension.

Last month, DiNapoli froze the pension of attorney Lawrence Reich, who

Newsday found was reported as a full-time employee by five school districts

simultaneously. DiNapoli determined Reich was not an employee and said Reich

would have to pay back money he wasn't entitled to. Reich, who retired in 2006

with a $61,459 pension, has about 10 years of eligible service with the state.

The FBI, the state attorney general, the IRS and the Nassau district

attorney have launched investigations.

Last week, DiNapoli revoked the pension memberships of four Albany

attorneys who were reported as employees by an upstate BOCES and reduced

service credit for a fifth attorney. Earlier this month, he announced new

regulations for local governments to determine who is an employee.