Is Daniel J. Hickey, Jr. the "Bernie Madoff" of New York Workers Compensation?
That's my opinion as quoted recently in an excellent piece of investigative journalism by Mary Beth Pfeiffer of the Poughkeepsie Journal. Why label him the "Bernie Madoff" of NY Workers' Comp?
As a result of his alleged actions, many small employers throughout New York State are now facing tremendous liabilities and possible bankruptcy because Daniel G. Hickey, Jr. and his former company, Bermuda based Compensation Risk Managers (CRM) allegedly submitted false information to the New York Workers' Compensation Board about outstanding claims and reserves, hired a public relations firm to post fake messages on the Yahoo Finance message board, and his company admitted acting as unlicensed claims adjusters. Read here about CRM's pull out from the NY market.
Despite his alleged misdeeds, according to the Journal story, Mr. Hickey resigned last March just in time to get a $3.3 million severance package an 2 million shares of company stock! Only in America!
To many small employers, the failure of the trusts administered by CRM is a financial calamity. One member of the Elite Contractors Trust, which was managed by CRM, recently received a bill for over $300,000 to cover unfunded claims. Few employers can withstand such an unforeseen financial impact. How many layoffs will this cause? Only time will tell.
This is another example that proves that the most expensive and pernicious NY workers' compensation misdeeds are not committed by injured workers. For his role in the CRM scandal, the New York Disability Law Blog inducts Daniel J. Hickey, Jr. into it's "Wall of Shame".
