Lawyers Group Presents Scammed 9/11 NYPD Hero With $400,000 Check After $1 Million Theft By His Friend

A 9/11 hero NYPD officer, scammed out of a $1 million
compensation fund check by a friend and fellow cop, received a
welcome bit of holiday payback from a state lawyers’ group.

Cancer survivor John Ferreyra, who fell ill after working on the
toxic pile at Ground Zero after the 2001 World Trade Center attack,
was presented Thursday with a $400,000 check by the New York State
Lawyers Fund. He was victimized by a former NYPD pal turned
attorney — with the scammer now facing up to 10 years in prison at
his Feb. 5 sentencing.

“I am both humbled and grateful to finally receive (nearly) half
of the award that was given to me for my disabling 9/11 illness,”
said Ferreyra, diagnosed in in 2005 with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. “It
is my hope that no other member of the 9/11 community, or anybody
else, ever has to experience what my family and I went
through.”

The lawyers’ fund provides financial assistance for clients
victimized by unscrupulous attorneys like Gustavo Vila, who pleaded
guilty to stealing 90% of his friend’s payout from the Sept. 11
Victim Compensation Fund. The lawyer and Ferreyra became close when
Vila was working his way up through the NYPD ranks, eventually
becoming a lieutenant and advisor to Police Commissioner William
Bratton.

Vila, 62, admitted pocketing all but $100,000 of Ferreyra’s $1
million payout, using the cash to pay his taxes and write checks to
his family worth nearly $300,000. It was later discovered that Vila
was actually disbarred for a grand larceny conviction in 2015 — the
year before the check to his old friend arrived.

Ferreyra endured incessant rounds of treatment, running the
gamut from multiple surgeries to chemotherapy, from radiation to a
stem cell transplant, in the years after he was diagnosed. The
father of two girls said his longtime friend continued lying to him
until this past January and never offered an apology for the cruel
scam.

Vila pleaded guilty in White Plains Federal Court in October,
four years after his friend’s check from the 9/11 fund arrived and
seven years after he took on Ferreyra’s case.

“It’s inexcusable to steal from anyone, but to target and prey
upon a 9/11 hero in this way is a despicable betrayal not of just
John Ferreyra but of all those who have sacrificed their health and
lives working to rebuild following the attacks,” said 9/11
survivors advocate John Feal.

Feal presented the $400,00 check to Ferreyra along with the
victim’s attorney Michael Barash, whose firm has represented
thousands of first responders.

“I could simply not stand by when I heard John’s devastating
story, realizing he was being victimized again,” said Barash. “This
was a betrayal of trust, plain and simple.”

Culled from nydailynews.com

A 9/11 hero NYPD officer, scammed out of a $1 million
compensation fund check by a friend and fellow cop, received a
welcome bit of holiday payback from a state lawyers’ group.

Cancer survivor John Ferreyra, who fell ill after working on the
toxic pile at Ground Zero after the 2001 World Trade Center attack,
was presented Thursday with a $400,000 check by the New York State
Lawyers Fund. He was victimized by a former NYPD pal turned
attorney — with the scammer now facing up to 10 years in prison at
his Feb. 5 sentencing.

“I am both humbled and grateful to finally receive (nearly) half
of the award that was given to me for my disabling 9/11 illness,”
said Ferreyra, diagnosed in in 2005 with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. “It
is my hope that no other member of the 9/11 community, or anybody
else, ever has to experience what my family and I went
through.”

The lawyers’ fund provides financial assistance for clients
victimized by unscrupulous attorneys like Gustavo Vila, who pleaded
guilty to stealing 90% of his friend’s payout from the Sept. 11
Victim Compensation Fund. The lawyer and Ferreyra became close when
Vila was working his way up through the NYPD ranks, eventually
becoming a lieutenant and advisor to Police Commissioner William
Bratton.

Vila, 62, admitted pocketing all but $100,000 of Ferreyra’s $1
million payout, using the cash to pay his taxes and write checks to
his family worth nearly $300,000. It was later discovered that Vila
was actually disbarred for a grand larceny conviction in 2015 — the
year before the check to his old friend arrived.

Ferreyra endured incessant rounds of treatment, running the
gamut from multiple surgeries to chemotherapy, from radiation to a
stem cell transplant, in the years after he was diagnosed. The
father of two girls said his longtime friend continued lying to him
until this past January and never offered an apology for the cruel
scam.

Vila pleaded guilty in White Plains Federal Court in October,
four years after his friend’s check from the 9/11 fund arrived and
seven years after he took on Ferreyra’s case.

“It’s inexcusable to steal from anyone, but to target and prey
upon a 9/11 hero in this way is a despicable betrayal not of just
John Ferreyra but of all those who have sacrificed their health and
lives working to rebuild following the attacks,” said 9/11
survivors advocate John Feal.

Feal presented the $400,00 check to Ferreyra along with the
victim’s attorney Michael Barash, whose firm has represented
thousands of first responders.

“I could simply not stand by when I heard John’s devastating
story, realizing he was being victimized again,” said Barash. “This
was a betrayal of trust, plain and simple.”

Culled from nydailynews.com