Description of document: Transcripts of Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) Orders, 2011-2013 Requested date: 11-November-2013 Released date: 21-January-2014 Posted date: 10-February-2014 Source of document: FOIA Request General Counsel/Chief FOIA Officer U.S. Railroad Retirement Board 844 North Rush Street Chicago, IL 60611-2092 Fax: (312) 751-7102 Email: [email protected] The governmentattic.org web site (“the site”) is noncommercial and free to the public. The site and materials made available on the site, such as this file, are for reference only. The governmentattic.org web site and its principals have made every effort to make this information as complete and as accurate as possible, however, there may be mistakes and omissions, both typographical and in content. 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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD 844 NORTH RUSH STREET CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60611-2092 GENERAL COUNSEL JAN 2 1 2014- Re: Freedom of Information Act Request dated November 11, 2013, C. 0509-14 This is in response to your letter dated November 11, 2013 to the Railroad Retirement Board (hereinafter the Board) wherein you requested "An electronic/digital copy of each (recent) Board Order issued with a 2013, 2012 and 2011 prefix (i.e. 13-, 12-, 11-) and any Board Orders issued with a 14-prefix." You made your request pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act. Pursuant to your request, please find enclosed copies of the transcripts of Board Orders for the time periods you requested. In processing your request, the Board has withheld the names of individual railroad employees. This is done in accordance with the sixth exemption of FOIA, 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(6), because public disclosure of this information would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. I trust that this information is helpful. @ Printed on recycled paper -2- Appeal Rights. The regulations of the Railroad Retirement Board provide that you may appeal the denial of a requested record by writing to the Secretary to the Board, Railroad Retirement Board, 844 North Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611- 2092, within 20 days following your receipt of this letter. A letter of appeal must include reference to, or a copy of, this letter. SinU. 2 ~ larl T. Blank General Counsel Enclosures THIS FORM IS TO BE USED FORM NO. G-21 (9-83) TRANSCRlPT NO. ONLY BY THE SECRETARY 4-13 TO THE BOARD OR AS UNITED STATES OF AMERICA RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD PAGE I PAGES OTHERWISE SPECIFICALLY OF ] DIRECTED BY THE BOARD. DATE TRANSCRIPT RELEASED TRANSCRIPT OF BOARD ORDERS ;:. • . ?{\. ?013 I CERTl:t'V THAT THE FOLLOWING IS A TRUE AND CORRECT TRANSCRIPT OF BOARD ORDER{S) NUMBERED ___1_3-_5_5 __________________________ , ~rnn~~m~-----~~-t-~___ ~_,_w_1_3~~~---------~-~--~-- J2 <ffi~SECRET ARY TO THE BOARDdi2i Adopted the following Board Order: B.O. 13-55 TERMINATION OF DISABILITY ANNUITIES AWARDED BASED ON MEDICAL EVIDENCE FROM DR. PETER LESNIEWSKI ARTICLE I. PORPOSB. The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) hereby establishes the policy set forth in this Order to govern the adjudication of all disability annuities paid under section 2(a) of the Railroad Retirement Act, where the decision that the applicant is disabled was based in whole or in part upon evidence furnished by Dr. Peter Lesniewski. The purpose of this policy is to protect the Railroad Retirement Account from fraudulent claims while ensuring payment of valid disability claims. ARTICLE II. FINDINGS. A. In section 7 of the Railroad Retirement Act, Congress granted to the Railroad Retirement Board all powers and duties necessary to administer the Railroad Retirement Act. Congress declared in that provision that decisions by the Railroad Retirement Board upon issues of law and fact relating to annuities shall not be subject to review by any other administrative or accounting officer, agent or employee of the United States.. Further, by incorporating section 5 of the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act, section 7 requires that findings of fact and conclusions of law of the Board in the determination of any claim for benefits shall be binding and conclusive for all purposes and upon all such administrative or accounting officer, agent or employee. BOARD ORDER 13-55 -Page 2- B. Pursuant to the authority granted by section 7 of the Railroad Retirement Act, the Railroad Retirement Board makes the following findings of fact and conclusions of law: 1. The Long Island Rail Road, a covered railroad employer under the Railroad Retirement Act, had established a private pension plan for employees which provided for early retirement with a full pension at age 50 with 20 years of Long Island Rail Road service. This plan has subsequently been superseded by another. Long Island Rail Road retirees under this subsequent plan are not subject to this Order. 2. A substantial number of Long Island Rail Road employees who retired under the now replaced Long Island Rail Road pension plan also applied for an occupational disability annuity under section 2(a) (1) (iv) of the Railroad Retirement Act. 3. On October 27, 2 011, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York filed fraud charges against two physicians, Dr. Peter Lesniewski and Dr. Peter J. Ajemian, one of their office managers, two individuals (facilitators) acting as liaison between the physicians and applicants for disability annuities under the Railroad Retirement Act, and seven railroad retirement disability annuitants (including one of the physicians' liaisons) who were also recipients of Long Island Rail Road pensions. The U.S. Attorney charged that the physicians, facilitators and disability annuitants falsely claimed to be disabled at the time of early retirement under the Long Island Rail Road pension plan in order to receive extra benefits to which they were not entitled. Additional indictments subsequently issued through July 2013 bring the total number of defendants to 33. 4. On December 20, 2011, an Indictment Order was entered finding that there was sufficient evidence to prosecute Dr. Lesniewski. The Grand Jury found that there was sufficient evidence that Dr. Lesniewski may have committed: (1) Conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and healthcare fraud, (2) Conspiracy to defraud the United States Railroad Retirement Board, and (3) Healthcare fraud. BOARD ORDER 13-55 -Page 3- 5. on May 22, 2012, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced the creation of a Voluntary Disclosure and Disposition Program, which was offered to former Long Island Rail Road employees who were awarded a disability annuity under the Railroad Retirement Act. Employee Annuitants who were accepted into the Program by the U.S. Attorney were required to sign the following statement: I hereby attest that in connection with my application for Railroad Retirement Board disability benefits, I or doctors or others on my behalf made what I understood to be false and/or misleading statements with respect to my health condition, ability to work, and/or my eligibility for RRB disability benefits. I declare under penalty of perjury that my statements in this document are true and correct, pursuant to Title 28, United States Code, and Section 1746. A total of 44 railroad retirement disability annuitants were accepted by the U.S. Attorney into the Voluntary Disclosure and Disposition Program. 6. On May 22, 2012, the Railroad Retirement Board issued Board Order 12-29, which set forth the processing of Agreements signed under the Voluntary Disclosure Program. Pursuant to Board Order 12-2 9, a disability annuitant who signed an Agreement was considered to have cancelled his or her disability application. Board Order 12-29 considered that payments made under the cancelled application were recovered by a compromise in exchange for information provided to the U.S. Attorney by the annuitant. 7. Several former Long Island Rail Road employees who have pled guilty to making false statements regarding their abilities furnished medical evidence from Dr. Lesniewski to support their benefit claims. 8. In the transcript testimony by Dr. Peter Ajemian in the guilty plea proceeding on January 18, 2013, in the case entitled United States of America v. Peter Ajemian, et al., U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 11 Cr. 1091, Dr. Ajemian testified under oath that sometime about 2002 he began seeing large numbers BOARD ORDER 13-55 -Page 4- of employees of the Long Island Rail Road, and during the period 2004 to 2008 he prepared narratives reciting a medical basis for disability annuity claims when "in truth and in fact these employees were not in fact disabled." 9. on May 7, 2013, a Superseding Indictment was filed finding sufficient evidence to charge Dr. Lesniewski with committing: (1) Conspiracy to commit mail fraud, and health care fraud, (2) Conspiracy to defraud the United States Railroad Retirement Board, (3) Health care fraud, (4) Mail fraud, and (S) Wire fraud. 10. On May 24, 2013, the District Court sentenced Dr. Aj emian to eight years for conspiracy and heal th care fraud. The Board notes that Dr. Aj emian was ordered to make restitution of $116.5 million. In the Statement by the Court Regarding the Defendant's Sentence, the Court noted that Dr.