From approximately January 1988 to December 2013, the four principal defendants allegedly worked together to help "many hundreds of applicants to falsely claim disabilities," said the press release from Vance's office.
In reality, there were applicants who traveled by air, played recreational sports and held jobs, according to court documents.
One defendant piloted a helicopter, one worked at a cannoli stand at the San Gennaro Festival in Manhattan, one rode a jet ski and one taught mixed martial arts.
One of those things that has been going on for a long time. My late wife's ex (first) husband was drunk at work and fell and broke his back. Well he did work at a brewery, which had lax rules about drinking on the job. He then worked as a plumber almost continuously while he was on permanent disability, and when we got engaged, he stopped both alimony and child support. Funny thing, the state disability office suddenly received several pictures of him carrying pipe and tools back and forth to a plumbing truck. They stopped his payments for a while, and started them back up again after his politically connected uncle, the plumber he was working for under the table, pulled strings for him. He continuously claimed that he couldn't pay his due because he was disabled and had no income beyond the "paltry" disability payment he received, almost full pay due to union contracts, but he had a brand new Cadillac every year. And then he tried to claim More than 50% support of the kids on his taxes.
