NEW YORK — A New York man pleaded guilty to fraudulently collecting more than $200,000 in disability benefits after his wife’s Instagram posts showed him working as a bodybuilder.
New York Attorney General Letitia James announced in a news release that Anthony Ragusa pleaded guilty to grand larceny and was sentenced to pay $200,000 in restitution to the Social Security Administration and will be on probation for five years. If Ragusa fails to pay the restitution, he faces one to three years in prison.
Prosecutors said Ragusa applied for disability benefits in 2013, citing severe injuries from a fall when he was an electrician. According to his application, Ragusa’s injuries were so severe that he had difficulty putting on shoes, walking for more than 15 minutes, and sitting for more than 30 minutes. Ragusa also said that pain prevented him from working.
“Disability benefits are a vital necessity for the New Yorkers who rely on those resources to help them live their lives,” James said in a statement. “Anthony Ragusa swindled taxpayers by claiming the benefits for himself, but was caught in his fraudulent scheme when his wife posted bodybuilding photos of him online. His illegal and shameful actions are an insult to those who actually live with disabilities.”
James said in the news release that video and photos from Ragusa’s wife’s Instagram account show that beginning in 2017, Ragusa began to physically transform into a bodybuilder.
Videos posted on Instagram show the 52-year-old lifting weights at a Long Island gym known as “the mecca” for bodybuilders, WNBC reported.
Prosecutors said that documents from the New York Department of Transportation as well as town meeting minutes from 2012 show that when Ragusa fell, he was also president and owner of a limousine company. Officials said that despite the injury and his claims to the SSA, Ragusa continued to run the business.
“For several years, Mr. Ragusa feigned his disability to fraudulently obtain over $200,000 in Social Security benefits, while managing his limousine business and a bodybuilding campaign. His admission holds him accountable for his deception and theft,” Gail Ellis, inspector general for the SSA, said in a statement.
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