A doctor who recommended hundreds of retired Long Island Rail Road employees receive disability benefits they were not entitled to has been sentenced to eight years in prison.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Friday that Dr. Peter Ajemian was sentenced by a federal judge in Manhattan after pleading guilty earlier this year to conspiracy charges.
Bharara said that for about a decade, Ajemian recommended 734 retiring LIRR employees receive the benefits.
Ajemian was among 32 defendants arrested in the past two years amid a probe targeting the LIRR, one of the nation's largest commuter railroads, which serves Long Island and has 81 million riders a year.
The 63-year-old will also have to pay $116.5 million in restitution.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
