9/11 hero NYPD officer John Ferreyra was presented with a $400,000 check by the New York State Lawyers Fund after his former cop friend turned attorney Gustavo Vila scammed him out of his $1 million payout from the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund.
I am both humbled and grateful to finally receive (nearly) half of the award that was given to me for my disabling 9/11 illness.
It is my hope that no other member of the 9/11 community, or anybody else, ever has to experience what my family and I went through.
John Ferreyra is a cancer survivor who became ill in 2001 after working on the toxic pile at Ground Zero after the 2001 World Trade Center attack.
Ferreyra and Vila became close when they worked on the force together, Vila worked his way up to lieutenant prior to pursuing a law career.
Ferreyra asked Vila to represent him in fear that he would not live through his illness. Ferreyra wanted to make sure his family had some financial stability.
Vila received the full $1 million payout from the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund in 2016. He gave Ferreyra $100,000 of the $1 million payout, and he kept the rest for himself.
Whenever questioned about the rest of the money Vila would say he was working on getting the rest.
Ferreyra said Villa continued lying to him until this past January and never apologized.
Villa pleaded guilty in October, four years after the $1 million check arrived and seven years after he took Ferreyra’s case.
After some investigation, it was discovered that Vila was disbarred for a grand larceny conviction in 2015, the year before Ferreyra’s $1 million check arrived.
Vila faces 10 years if convicted on Feb. 5.
See the news report below:
Gustavo Vila needs to get every second of those 10 years for his antics.
Source: Daily News
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