Att’y charged in $1M theft from 9/11 vic

A sleazeball lawyer stole $1 million from a hero NYPD cop suffering from 9/11-related cancer, prosecutors charged Thursday.

Disbarred Westchester attorney Gustavo Vila repped the retired officer who filed a claim through the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. In 2016, the fund awarded the cop $1 million to compensate for “serious, life-threatening medical conditions” suffered as a result of rescue and recovery work at Ground Zero, prosecutors said.

But Vila held onto most of the payout, falsely telling the cop for more than three years the money still hadn’t been released, prosecutors said. The lawyer spent some of the money to pay his own taxes, according to a complaint filed in Manhattan Federal Court. Other money allegedly went into an account belonging to Vila’s then-wife, prosecutors charged.

“Vila allegedly attempted to profit off of the suffering of a retired NYPD officer who risked his life at Ground Zero. Because of Vila’s alleged greed, the victim never received about $1 million he was awarded from the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund,” said Kenneth Dieffenbach, a special-agent-in-charge in the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General.

Vila, 62, continued to rep the cop even after he was disbarred in 2015, according to a complaint. Court papers indicate that Vila pleaded guilty that year to third-degree grand larceny. The disgraced lawyer now faces a charge of theft of government funds, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.

The only award money the ailing cop got from Vila was $103,000 — roughly 10% of the total award — in 2016, prosecutors said.

The scheme fell apart in February when the cop called the fund and learned the payout had been made nearly four years prior, according to the complaint. The cop and his spouse confronted Vila, who “admitted to stealing” the money, prosecutors wrote.

Vila’s attorney did not respond to an email. He was released on $100,000 bail after appearing before a judge in White Plains.