Todd Faustin, a correction officer assigned to Rikers Island until recently, has admitted he was cashing in on a scam that drained hundreds of thousands of dollars from the city’s workers’ compensation system. On Tuesday, he pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan to making false statements to obtain workers’ comp tied to supposed use of force incidents on the job. Prosecutors say Faustin acknowledged pocketing at least $370,336.79 in benefits he never should have received. He resigned from the Department of Correction the same day and is scheduled to be sentenced on July 7, 2026.
DOI Report Flags a System Under Strain
Faustin’s case is landing in a department that already has a massive workers’ comp tab. In a recent report, the New York City Department of Investigation found that workers’ compensation payouts to Department of Correction employees hit roughly $341 million in Fiscal Year 2024 and topped $1 billion across fiscal years 2022 through 2024. Investigators pointed to a surge in claims and said the system is badly in need of guardrails.
The report urged the city’s Law Department and DOC to install more structural checks, including creating a director of claims integrity and a director of workplace safety, to better spot questionable awards. DOI said the goal is straightforward if not easy: tighten review and cut down on expensive and potentially fraudulent payouts before taxpayer money walks out the door.
Faustin’s Plea and Prosecutors’ Take
Prosecutors say Faustin has now formally admitted to his role in gaming that system. He pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements related to health care matters and agreed that he obtained at least $370,336.79 in improper workers’ comp benefits, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York.
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton did not mince words, calling Faustin’s conduct costly for New Yorkers and stressing that most correction officers do the job honestly. “Faustin is not one of them,” Clayton said, while his office simultaneously pushed out the news in a brief post on X.
One Piece of a Wider Probe
Faustin’s guilty plea is just one chapter in a larger case that has been unfolding for months. In May 2025, federal prosecutors unsealed indictments charging Faustin alongside Jovanny Concepcion and Steven Murphy. Those filings accused the three officers of collectively collecting nearly $1 million in improper benefits, as reported in coverage of the alleged $1 million healthcare fraud scheme.
The initial indictments helped trigger louder calls from city and state watchdogs for changes to how claims are vetted and for tighter coordination with prosecutors whenever red flags pop up.
Legal Stakes for Faustin
The single federal count Faustin pleaded to carries a statutory maximum of five years in prison. How much time he actually faces will be up to the judge at his July 2026 sentencing. The case is being handled by the office’s Civil Rights and Human Trafficking Unit together with the Public Corruption Unit, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Watchdogs Keep Pressing for Reform
DOI’s report sketches out a roadmap of procedural fixes that officials say could rein in fraudulent and inflated claims. The city’s Law Department has indicated it will adopt a number of DOI’s recommendations, while DOC has said it is weighing updates to its own internal directives.
Local reporting has noted that DOC officials told reporters the number of claims actually declined last year even as the agency reviews DOI’s suggestions, according to Gothamist. Whether those trendlines hold, and whether reforms arrive fast enough to keep more cases like Faustin’s from surfacing, is now squarely on the city’s to do list.
