Disbarred Yorktown Attorney Sentenced to Prison for Stealing $1M from 9/11 Victim
A disbarred Yorktown lawyer will spend over four years in prison after stealing nearly $1 million that had been awarded to a Sept. 11, 2001 first responder he represented.
Gustavo Vila, of Yorktown Heights, was sentenced on Monday in White Plains Federal Court to 51 months in prison. Vila on Oct. 29 pleaded guilty to one count of theft of government funds after pocketing money that was granted to former client and disabled New York City police officer John Ferreyra by the Department of Justice’s 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund.
“Gustavo Vila stole money awarded by the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund to his client, an NYPD officer and first responder,” said U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss. “Further, Vila lied to his client for more than three years, telling him that the stolen money had yet to be released by the Fund. Now Gustavo Vila has been sentenced to prison for his betrayal.”
According to court records, Ferreyra had retained Vila, a retired NYPD lieutenant, under the assumption he would do right by him after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2005. The cancer was linked to toxins ingested at Ground Zero during the months he spent assisting in rescue and recovery efforts.
Due to his diagnosis, Ferreyra has undergone surgeries, a stem cell transplant, chemotherapy, and multiple sessions of radiation therapy.
Following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Congress created the Victim Compensation Fund to provide reparation with federal government funds to any individual who suffered physical harm or was killed because of the attacks, or as a result of the debris removal efforts that took place in the immediate aftermath.
Claimants seeking compensation from the VCF were authorized to work with an attorney who would, on behalf of their client, submit a claim and receive the award from the VCF. Attorney’s fees were limited to 10 percent of any award, according to a statement from the Department of Justice.
Between 2012 and 2019, Vila represented Ferreyra following his diagnosis. However, while Vila acted as the middleman for his client and the VCF, he had been disbarred in 2015 due to an unrelated theft.
In May 2013, Vila submitted a claim to the VCF on behalf of Ferreyra, along with forms authorizing the VCF to deposit the awarded money directly into his law firm’s bank account. On Sept. 12, 2016, the VCF authorized an award of $1,030,622.04 for life-threatening illnesses that Ferrerya sustained at Ground Zero.
A month later, the VCF deposited the full amount into Vila’s bank account, officials said, which Vila was required to distribute, with 10 percent reduced, to Ferreyra. But Vila failed to inform his client about the full deposit – giving Ferreyra approximately $103,062 and keeping the rest for himself.
Officials said Vila used the money for his own personal benefit, including to pay his own taxes and personal loans.
Up until last February, Vila had maintained the VCF had not yet released the additional compensation that was promised, claiming the organization ran out of funding, officials said.
Under the advisement of fellow officers who found the multi-year payout delay unusual, Ferreyra contacted New York City-based firm Barasch & McGarry. The group has represented more than 20,000 9/11 victims, including thousands of former police officers.
Ferrerya was advised to contact the VCF immediately and it was confirmed that his award had been paid in full to Vila on Oct. 12, 2016. The U.S. Attorney’s Office was then alerted, while the VCF searched for other victims of Vila’s.
Strauss praised the outstanding investigative work of the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General’s Fraud Detection Office. The prosecution of this case is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Unit. Assistant United States Attorney Sarah L. Kushner is overseeing the prosecution.
