SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A former Syracuse lawyer was sentenced today to six months’ of weekends in jail and five years’ probation for fraudulently collecting nearly $250,000 in disability payments while continuing to do his legal work.
U.S. District Judge Glenn Suddaby imposed the sentence on Christopher Chadick, 63, who pleaded guilty last year to defrauding the Social Security Administration out of $247,269 from April 2003 to August 2010.
Chadick admitted he’d applied for Social Security disability benefits, claiming he suffered from Cushing’s disease, but concealed from the agency that he continued to work as a lawyer while getting the disability payments.
Cushing’s disease is caused by an excess growth of the pituitary gland, at the base of the brain. Chadick was hospitalized 10 times and eventually had his pituitary removed, according to court papers filed by his lawyer, Assistant Federal Public Defender James Greenwald.
Chadick must take hormone supplements to keep the disease under control, Greenwald wrote. Chadick suffered a heart attack and has had recurring heart problems, court papers said. He suffers from severe fatigue and often needs to take “several naps each day,” Greenwald wrote.
“The once bright and aggressive lawyer was unable to function at his job,” Greenwald wrote. Chadick also suffers from major depression, his lawyer said.
“I can’t begin to express how sad I am that any of this happened,” Chadick told Suddaby. “But because of Cushing’s disease, I’m just not the man that I once was, and I never will be again, and I know that.”
Chadick’s abuse of the Social Security system was more egregious because he was a lawyer, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tamara Thomson wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
“As a lawyer, the defendant knew better,” she wrote. “His fraud discredits the legal profession.”
Federal sentencing guidelines recommended a sentence of between 15 and 21 months in prison. But Suddaby decided to sentence Chadick to probation so he can get a job and start paying off the nearly $250,000 he owes Social Security.
Chadick must pay Social Security $100 a month or 10 percent of his gross income, whichever is greater, Suddaby said.
Up to today’s sentencing, Chadick was receiving $1,672 a month in Social Security retirement benefits, court papers said. Those payments will now go back to the agency until Chadick pays off the restitution, Suddaby said.
For six months, Chadick must report to the Onondaga County Correctional Facility in Jamesville from 6 p.m. Friday to 6 p.m. Sunday, the judge ordered.
In a separate case, Chadick was sentenced to 4 to 12 years in prison in 2011 for stealing money from dozens of his clients by taking his retainer fee from them but doing no legal work.
He had to pay restitution to 45 former clients, court papers said.
Chadick served more than three years in prison for the state conviction. He was automatically disbarred as a lawyer. That was a year after he’d stopped defrauding Social Security.
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