By:Karenlyn Barone
Abrams was one of 13 arrested in an insurance scam sweep.
In a telephone interview, Robert Emmons, chief of the Nassau County district attorney-s Criminal Frauds Bureau, said that in April 2001, Abrams fractured his right hip and right leg in an automobile accident. He claimed he was unable to work because of his injuries, and he began collecting disability benefits.
He had a legitimate accident and injuries and was disabled for a period of time, said Emmons. However, at one point he did return to work, and he neglected and chose not to inform the insurance company that he had returned to work.
Abrams collected $2,000 per month on an insurance policy he had purchased several years before the accident. He collected those disability benefits from June 2001 to April 2003. Every month he certified that he had not returned to work nor received any pay, Emmons said.
Inconsistencies, and the concern that medical reports had been altered, lead the insurance company, Unum Provident of Worcester, Mass., to refer the case to the Frauds Bureau. Allegedly, Abrams changed the doctor-s notes on his case to reflect little or no progress in his recuperation, intentionally deleting information that indicated he was improving. Further investigation uncovered that Abrams, who practiced private law from his home, resumed full-time work in June 2002.
We were able to identify former clients who confirmed that Abrams was doing business for them at the same time he was collecting disability, said Emmons.
In total, Abrams collected $46,000 -- more than any other person arrested in the insurance fraud sweep. He was charged with third-degree grand larceny, third-degree insurance fraud and first-degree falsifying of business records, which Emmons explained was for altering his orthopedist-s progress report.
Abrams was released without bail, but faces up to seven years in prison and the suspension of his license to practice law if convicted.
His attorney, Charles Hochbaum, declined to comment at length on his client's case, but he did say, "There is no doubt that Edward Abrams was severely injured in the automobile accident." Hochbaum contended that it was "too early in the process to comment further."
Three other area residents were arrested in the sweep. Tracy Ghani, 35, of Atlantic Avenue in East Rockaway, was arrested and charged with first-degree perjury, a Class D felony punishable by up to seven years in prison. Ghani allegedly injured her knee while working for the Town of Hempstead Department of Sanitation and began receiving worker-s compensation benefits in May 2003. Last December she testified before a Worker-s Compensation Board that she was not working, but the investigation revealed that she had been working for a hairdresser in Merrick since July 2003, for which she was paid off the books.
Amanda Stoehr, of Lawrence Avenue in Lynbrook, was receiving worker-s compensation benefits for a knee injury. Between May 2003 and February 2004, however, Stoehr worked for a mail-order computer-parts company using her married name, Schilling. She continued to claim that she was not working, and collected $5,280 in worker-s compensation to which she was not entitled. Stoehr is charged with third-degree grand larceny and third-degree insurance fraud, both of which are punishable by up to seven years in prison.
Also arrested in the insurance scam sweep was Giovanni Nasta, 57, of Oceanside Road in Oceanside, who allegedly collected $25,040 in worker-s compensation benefits by falsely claiming he had not returned to work after injuring his back and legs when he fell from a scaffold in February 1998. During the investigation, Nasta was videotaped working about 100 days during 2002 and 2003. H was employed by a contracting firm and earned $225 per day, doing excavation and concrete/cement work. Nasta is charged with third-degree grand larceny and third-degree insurance fraud as well as first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, which carries a maximum sentence of up to four years in prison.
The defendants are due back in court on May 11.
