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11 people accused for rail pension fraud scandal in New York, U.S.

28 October 2011 01:51 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Eleven people were accused of fraud charges on Thursday in connection with a 1-billion-U.S.- dollar scheme to falsely claim disability benefits for retired New York commuter railway workers, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The defendants, including former Long Island Railroad (LIRR) workers, doctors and a federal railroad agency employee, were accused of participating in the scheme in which employees filed disability claims shortly before they retired. The move allowed them to get disability pay on top of their retirement pension, prosecutors said.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan said in the complaint that workers who were "ready to retire falsely claimed to be disabled ... so that they could receive extra benefits to which they were not entitled."

Prosecutors said that the scheme cost the Railroad Retirement Board more than 1 billion U.S. dollars. The investigation developed after a series of reports by The New York Times starting in 2008.

The LIRR is the largest commuter railroad in the U.S..