Maria Rusin, LIRR Disability Fraud, New York 2013

Maria Rusin, office manager of Dr. Peter J. Ajemian’s medical practice, pled guilty to charges related to the LIRR Disability Fraud Scheme in New York on August 2010. Rusin, 57, of Farmingdale, New York, participated in a voluntary interview with criminal investigators in the Southern District of New York, and falsely denied knowing that almost all of Dr. Peter Ajemian’s patients from the LIRR were retiring at the same time that they were claiming occupational disability from the United States Railroad Retirement Board.

Rusin also falsely claimed that she was never told that an LIRR patient was planning to retire except when the patient was directed to see her to pay for a narrative, and that this usually occurred at the end of the process of seeing Ajemian—about two weeks to one month prior to the worker’s retirement. In addition, Rusin falsely claimed to have no understanding about how an occupational disability would affect the payout for an LIRR worker who was retiring.

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that Maria Rusin, Gregory Noone, Daniel Denis, and Regina Walsh pled guilty to charges related to the allegedly massive fraud scheme in which LIRR workers claimed to be disabled upon early retirement so that they could receive disability benefits to which they were not entitled.

According to the Complaint, the Superseding Indictment, the Superseding Informations, and statements made in other public filings and in court:

The LIRR Disability Fraud Scheme was a massive fraud scheme in which LIRR workers claimed to be disabled upon early retirement so that they could receive disability benefits to which they were not entitled. Hundreds of LIRR employees have allegedly exploited the overlap between the LIRR pension and the RRB disability program by pre-planning the date on which they would falsely declare themselves disabled so that it would coincide with their projected retirement date.

Rusin will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero on May 13, 2013. Noone, 63, of East Islip, New York, will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero on January 8, 2013. Denis, a former LIRR ticket agent, pled guilty before Judge Pitman on January 9, 2013. Walsh, a former LIRR director of employee operations, pled guilty today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry B. Pitman.

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