A New York man has been arrested after allegedly faking Covid-19 test results in order to get workers’ compensation benefits.
PIX-11 reports Ajani Shaw, a 23-year-old Staten Island resident, was arraigned Tuesday on multiple charges, including grand larceny, insurance fraud, forgery, falsifying business records and workers’ compensation fraudulent practices. New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang said Wednesday that Shaw faked testing positive for Covid over several months in 2020.
According to NBC, Shaw was working part time in a kitchen at at Staten Island’s Seaview Nursing Home when he filed a workers compensation claim for exposure to Covid-19 in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic. He included a note signed by a physician on April 3, 2020, and a positive Covid test for his insurance carrier, officials said.
Lang said Shaw send additional documents and a total of six fake positive tests to extend his claim and receive benefits through August. On July 24, 2020, his insurance carrier noticed many of the positive test results used the same specimen ID; an investigation found the documents from April were legitimate, but a June note ordering additional weeks of quarantine and other documents were fraudulent.
Shaw received $150 a week in benefits, totaling $1,761, the inspector general said.
“Workers’ Compensation insurance is essential to the success of our state’s workforce and businesses, and all the more so during times of crisis,” Lang said in a statement. “Thanks to our partners at the Staten Island District Attorney’s Office for helping ensure the integrity of this vital safety net.”
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