Cuomo Subpoenas Lawyers in School Pension Fraud Probe ALBANY, NEW YORK (WXXI) - State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has issued multiple subpoenas as he investigates a pension fraud scam that may involve as many as 90 lawyers on Long Island and upstate who were working for school districts.

Attorney General Cuomo says the lawyers were paid to give legal advice to the school districts and BOCES centers, but they were also given employee status, which means they were eligible for and collected pensions and health insurance benefits, even though they didn't really work for the schools.

"It is surprising to me the level of fraud we've seen," said Cuomo. "This is basically a payroll padding scheme."

Cuomo says one attorney in question was listed as working for seven different school districts, and was accruing pension benefits at an alarming rate.

"How do you justify seven payrolls?" asked Cuomo. "Tell me that it was a mistake. Tell me you didn't know what you were doing."

Cuomo says the attorneys involved face probable civil penalties and will be asked to give back the pension money. They could also face criminal charges. And he says the probe, which already includes 20 counties, including Albany, Broome, Erie and Monroe, could expand.
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