To pick up where last left off, and in particular to those who think the FAA world revolves around persecuting former military (veterans), a reminder that enforcement for failure to report benefits covers far more than just VA benefits. AOPA reports on the case of a seventy-one year old retired USAF colonel who pled guilty to fraudulent claim of social security benefits, and was also conficted of three counts of making falsle statements to the FAA; the conviction was in federal court, by jury, not merely an FAA administrative action. The subject defrauded both the VA and the Social Security Administration, though most charges were dropped by plea, with one guilty plea for the social security, and restitution of some one hundred forty thousand and change. The jury conviction wasn't for the theft from the government, but for lying to the FAA, specificly failure to report disability benefits. The seventy-one year old was one of those discovered by the VA investigation that was pressed into the FAA's hands. It moved beyond an administrative action, to criminal charges. The retired colonel was found to have not lied to the FAA by error, but by intent, hence, the conviction.
The subject was facing up to five years in prison per charge, and a quarter of a million dollar fine per charge, which led him to plead down to the single charge of social securities fraud. He did wind up with a three year sentence (supervised release), and eight hundrd fifty thousand in fines.
https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2024/june/13/pilot-sentenced-for-lying-on-faa-medical-applications?utm_source=epilot&utm_medium=email
It's worth mentioning because discovery of failure to disclose goes far beyond a slap on the wrist or even a certificate suspension. It can get a lot worse, to include criminal federal charges, jail time, and big fines, and it can extend beyond your flying career years. Nothing with which to toy around.
From AMAS (Aviation Medicine Advisory Service) today, in their email news blast (no link because email):
The linked article above by. Susan Northrup (
https://medium.com/faa/reporting-disability-compensation-6b432fd3b8ce) is worth reviewing: