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Pension bureaucrat lied to obtain one of NYC’s fattest salaries: investigators
Bureaucrat Daniel Miller applied — but never received an offer from the Ohio School Employees Retirement System – and continued to lie about it, even to investigators, an inspector alleges.
nypost.com
Pension bureaucrat lied to obtain one of NYC’s fattest salaries: investigators
By
Susan Edelman
October 8, 2022 11:02am
Updated
An obscure pension bureaucrat wangled one of the highest salaries of any public employee in New York City — eclipsing even Mayor Adams — by lying about receiving a plum job offer from another state, an investigation found.
Daniel Miller, deputy executive director of the Board of Education Retirement system (BERS), received a $28,549 pay hike to $255,000 in 2018 after asking his boss to match the salary he claimed an Ohio pension system had offered him, BERS Inspector General Anastasia Coleman found in an Aug. 9 report provided to The Post.
Miller applied — but never received an offer from the Ohio School Employees Retirement System – and continued to lie about it, even to investigators, Coleman alleges.
“Miller received his raise based on knowingly false information,” she charges, saying his “financial windfall result[ed] from malfeasance.”
Sanford Rich, 64, BERS executive director and Miller’s boss, granted the huge raise without verifying the offer.
Rich then had the nerve to ask the BERS board to raise his own annual pay to $257,575, 1% more than his deputy, the probe found.
[IMG alt="Sanford Rich
Executive Director at New York City Board of Education Retirement System "]https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/10/sanford-rich-1.jpg?w=1024[/IMG]Board of Education Retirement system director Sanford Rich allegedly approved Daniel Miller’s salary raise without confirming his job offer.BERS / YouTube
The board, which has authority over his salary, declined. “Rich simply took Miller’s word as gospel, with no due diligence, essentially an act of negligence. Rich then used this unverified information to justify a request to enrich himself,” Coleman concludes, calling it “egregious misconduct.”
With subsequent managerial raises, Miller, 41, now collects a jaw-dropping $262,650 a year. Mayor Adams makes $258,750.
Rich’s current salary is $235,599. He did not reply to a request for comment. Miller could not be reached.
“The BERS Board of Trustees is taking the report very seriously,” said Alexander Kazazis, the board’s general counsel. The trustees will discuss a response, including possible discipline of Miller and Rich, at its next meeting Oct. 18, he added.
Funded largely with taxpayer contributions, BERS is the smallest of the city’s five retirement systems, covering central DOE staffers, school aides, cafeteria workers, and nurses, among others.
Chancellor Banks sits on the BERS board of trustees. “The chancellor is deeply committed to ensuring accountability for public funds and that our employees’ pensions are well managed. These allegations are very troubling,” said DOE spokesman Nathaniel Styer.