New York Man Jacks Up His Life After Disability Fraud
New York bodybuilder Anthony Ragusa allegedly spent years collecting disability benefits while being a regular at the gym, announced the state’s top prosecutor this Thursday, according to Fox News.
Attorney General Letitia James said investigators caught Ragusa in this ruse after photos surfaced of his strongman physique on his wife’s, International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness pro Loly Ragusa, Instagram.
In one post from November 2019, Ragusa’s wife describes him as her partner in crime. (Irony at its finest.)
“While cheating the state out of thousands of dollars,” said James. “Anthony Ragusa was simultaneously running a business and posing for pictures of his bodybuilding on the internet.”
Ragusa claimed he was unable to work after falling while working as an electrician in 2013, said prosecutors. The claim stated that Ragusa suffered injuries so severe that he struggled putting on shoes, walking for more than 15 minutes or sitting for more than a half-hour at a time.
According to prosecutors, Ragusa also said he suffered from severe pain that made working in general impossible. Meanwhile, he allegedly owned and operated the White Star Limousine Company.
Between 2015 and 2020, Ragusa reiterated his claims of disability, prosecutors said.
In 2017, Ragusa began a “physical transformation into a bodybuilder,” according to the attorney general’s office. The attorney general’s office is using his wife’s Instagram as evidence to support their claims.
Ragusa is now facing felony charges of grand larceny and offering a false instrument for filing. He was released without bail.
