Jul 8, 2017

Former Social Security Employee Sentenced

     From the Chicago Sun-Times:
A former employee of the Social Security Administration in Chicago was sentenced to five years in prison Thursday for a fraud scheme in which he authorized more than $1.9 million in benefits. 
Jayson Cruz, 41, pleaded guilty last year to one count of wire fraud, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois. 
Cruz was a former benefits authorizer at the Social Security Administration in Chicago, prosecutors said. Between 2009 and 2013, he ayuthorized fraudulent payments to more than 150 people, causing the Social Security Administration to pay $1,908,290 in fraudulent benefits. ...

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

So you say... "Between 2009 and 2013, he ayuthorized (sic) fraudulent payments to more than 150 people, causing the Social Security Administration to pay $1,908,290 in fraudulent benefits."

Are the more than 150 people involved in this fraud also going to prison? How many of these people had attorney involvement or other agency employee/management involvement. What raised the red flags for investigation?

And what was the administrative cost to process these fraudulent claims as well as the costs to prosecute, handle appeals, seek repayment, etc.

Anonymous said...

So assault a security guard = sentence of 8 years 9 months.
Steal 1.9 million = sentence of 5 years.

There is a reason I am no longer practicing criminal law.

Anonymous said...

Wonder if he had a mental illness that caused him to make poor decisions. Based on many posters on the blog that would deem him a poor choice for prosecution and unfair!

Anonymous said...

How did he get caught? Most approvals take more than one person to get them approved. What is the fraudulent part? Were these people made up? If these people were applicants, some of them may well have been entitled to benefits.

Anonymous said...

https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20150708/downtown/5-chicagoans-charged-for-allegedly-embezzling-2m-from-social-security