Peter Lesniewski, Disability Fraud, New York 2011

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara announced today that Peter Lesniewski, Marie Baran, and Joseph Rutigliano were convicted in Manhattan federal court for their participation in a massive fraud scheme in which Long Island Rail Road (“LIRR”) employees claimed to be disabled upon early retirement so that they could receive federal disability benefits to which they were not entitled.

The three defendants were convicted on all counts charged following a three-week trial before U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero. Twenty-eight defendants have now been convicted in this case.

According to the charging documents in this case and evidence presented at trial, the LIRR Disability Fraud Scheme involved hundreds of LIRR employees who 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.

These false statements, made under penalty of prosecution in disability applications, allowed LIRR employees to retire as early as age 50 with an LIRR pension, supplemented by the fraudulently obtained RRB disability annuity. From 1998 through 2011, approximately 79% of LIRR retirees obtained federal disability when they retired.

Peter Lesniewski enabled hundreds of LIRR employees to dupe the government through medical paper trails filled with bogus diagnoses, while Baran and Rutigliano, in exchange for payments of thousands of dollars, helped lard the employees’ disability benefit applications with lies.

Dr. Lesniewski enabled hundreds of LIRR employees to dupe the government through medical paper trails filled with bogus diagnoses, while Baran and Rutigliano, in exchange for payments of thousands of dollars, helped lard the employees’ disability benefit applications with lies.

Like the 25 people who previously pled guilty, these defendants now have been brought to justice and will pay for their central roles in this brazen scheme.

Peter Lesniewski, a doctor and former physician for the Long Island Rail Road, was convicted of participating in a massive LIRR disability fraud scheme that led to a staggering 79% of LIRR retirees from 1998 to 2011 receiving federal disability benefits, costing the government hundreds of millions of dollars.

The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (“RRB”) is an independent U.S. agency that administers benefit programs, including disability benefits, for the nation’s railroad workers and their families.

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