September 30, 2002

PRESS RELEASE

LAWYER SENTENCED TO SIX MONTHS IN JAIL

Boston, MA... A Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts man was sentenced in federal court for mail fraud in obtaining full disability benefits in Massachusetts while he was working as a court appointed lawyer in Washington D.C. making over $75,000 per year.

United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan and Charles S. Prouty, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New England, announced today that EDWARD FIRESTONE, age 58, of 255 South Street, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Mark L. Wolf to 6 months' imprisonment, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. FIRESTONE previously repaid his disability insurance company, Allianz Life Insurance of North America, approximately $61,000 for disability benefits to which he was not entitled. FIRESTONE pleaded guilty on April 29, 2002, to an indictment charging him with eighteen counts of mail fraud.

At the earlier plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that had the case proceeded to trial the Government's evidence would have proven that FIRESTONE was insured for total disability under a Boston Bar Association policy and received total disability benefits in the amount of $1,600 per month beginning in December 1986. In late 1995, FIRESTONE began working in Washington, D.C. as a Court-Appointed attorney for indigent criminal defendants and for poor persons in abuse and neglect cases involving children. FIRESTONE submitted invoices for his services in an amount of $50 per hour, and from 1997 through 1999 earned more than $75,000 each year.

Despite working and earning a substantial income in Washington, D.C., FIRESTONE also continued to submit statements of continuing total disability to the insurance company on an annual basis. FIRESTONE falsely represented that he wasn't working and had not worked since 1986. FIRESTONE also obtained physician statements in support of his ongoing disability by not telling his doctor that he was working or earning income. As a result of the false statements that he wasn't working, FIRESTONE obtained total disability benefits for forty-four months to which he was not entitled. FIRESTONE pleaded guilty to knowingly and willfully making false representations to obtain those benefits to which he was not entitled, and using the U.S. mail in furtherance of the fraud.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Winkler in Sullivan's Health Care Fraud Unit.

Press Contact: Samantha Martin, (617) 748-3139