Someone pretending to be Council Member Gale Brewer allegedly walked away with a $32,980 loan from the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, quietly slipping through the myNYCERS online portal before anyone in Brewer’s orbit realized something was off, records show. Investigators say the case is not a one-off glitch but part of a broader pattern of account takeovers and bogus loan approvals that exposed weak verification and access controls inside the city’s largest pension system.
According to The City, an impostor submitted a myNYCERS loan application in Brewer’s name that resulted in the $32,980 disbursement. The outlet also reports that Department of Investigation records show the watchdog referred six individuals to the Brooklyn District Attorney in January 2024. Prosecutors declined to pursue charges in some of those referrals, citing jurisdictional limits and evidence issues.
DOI Says Pension Safeguards Left the Door Open
In a September 2025 review, the New York City Department of Investigation found serious weaknesses at NYCERS, including loose employee access rules, shaky bank-account verification and incomplete audit logs that made both insider theft and outside account takeovers possible, according to a report by the New York City Department of Investigation. DOI laid out 11 fixes, ranging from two-factor authentication and login alerts to tighter standards for reactivating suspended accounts, all aimed at closing the holes.
How the myNYCERS Rollout Became a Target
DOI and system records indicate that when NYCERS migrated members onto the myNYCERS platform in 2020, the re-registration process gave bad actors an opening to set up accounts in other people’s names, then submit loan and electronic funds transfer requests. As reported by The City, investigators say at least 33 pensioners have had their accounts hijacked since 2020, with NYCERS approving at least $276,000 in fraudulent loans through 2022. DOI is still digging into roughly a dozen additional suspicious fraud notices from 2023 and 2024.
One Guilty Plea, Restitution and Internal Housecleaning
One case did make it all the way to a conviction. Former NYCERS examiner Gregory Mathieu admitted stealing pension funds and was later sentenced and ordered to pay restitution, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office. A Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office release describes how Mathieu’s scheme, which siphoned hundreds of thousands of dollars from retirees, helped trigger a closer review of NYCERS’ internal practices and paved the way for a slate of operational changes.
NYCERS Tries to Tighten Up as Probes Continue
NYCERS has since published fraud-prevention guidance on its website and says it has rolled out several new security measures while DOI continues follow-up work, according to the agency’s online updates. Officials and investigators are urging members to log into their myNYCERS accounts, turn on any available protections and report anything that looks off to both the pension office and DOI.
For now, the Brewer incident is a pointed reminder that digital gateways to public benefits can be fragile. Watchdogs argue that more frequent audits and stronger identity checks are needed to keep impostors from turning a “simple” online loan request into a cascade of lost retirement income. Investigations remain active, and city officials say they will keep watching how NYCERS’ fixes perform while DOI chases the remaining leads.
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