New York cops among 106 accused of 9/11 fraud

Former New York police officers and firefighters were among 106 people indicted Tuesday over "massive fraud," some in connection with the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

The accused allegedly collected tens of thousands of dollars a year in Social Security benefits – funded by taxpayers – by claiming they were completely incapacitated by serious psychiatric disorders and other ailments.

But, according to court documents, they were living normal lives.

One retired police officer who told the government he was too psychologically damaged to work ran a martial arts studio, prosecutors said, but was still claiming between $30,000 and $50,000 in benefits a year. Another claimed his depression was so crippling it kept him house-bound, but he was photographed aboard a watercraft. A third man who said he was incapable of social interactions manned a cannoli stand at a street festival.

More than 100 people were arrested, including 72 city police officers, eight firefighters, five correction officers and one Nassau County Police Department officer.

Among the accused, 80 were retired police officers or firefighters. Over 26 years, the workers arrested collected about $22 million in bogus benefits, authorities said, and more arrests could follow. Prosecutors estimate hundreds more people and as much as $400 million may be involved.

"Many participants cynically manufactured claims of mental illness as a result of September 11, dishonoring the first responders who did serve their city at the expense of their own health and safety," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said in a statement.

"The brazenness is shocking," Vance told The Associated Press.

The four main defendants conspired to help or make hundreds of applicants falsely claim disabilities in order to collect benefit payments and public pensions, the indictment and court documents showed.

Prosecutors said the applicants claimed they suffered from a psychiatric condition that prevented them from working, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety or depression.

"This alleged scam further depleted the already limited resources available for battling the real and complex conditions of PTSD and depression," Vance said.

"Many" claimed their experience during the 9/11 attacks on the city had caused their psychiatric condition, according to prosecutors.

"The retired members of the NYPD indicted in this case have disgraced all first responders who perished during the search and rescue efforts on September 11, 2001, and those who subsequently died from 9/11 related illness, by exploiting their involvements that tragic day for personal gain," New York City Police Department Commissioner William J. Bratton said.

Two of the four ringleaders of the fraud allegedly coached benefit applicants to falsely describe symptoms of depression and anxiety to doctors they had recruited. They instructed applicants on how to fail memory tests with plausibility, how to dress, and on their demeanor.

Claims of government workers feigning injury to get disability benefits have been the focus of sprawling criminal cases before.

Over the last two years, 32 people were arrested in a probe into Long Island Rail Road employees who collected federal railroad disability benefits; at least two dozen have pleaded guilty. Some of the workers claimed on-the-job injuries, only to be spotted later playing golf and tennis, working out and even riding in a 400-mile bike race.

Al Jazeera and wire services