Long Beach Sues Schnirman, Agostisi For $2M Over Payouts

LONG BEACH, NY — The city of Long Beach filed lawsuits against former City Manager Jack Schnirman and Rob Agostisi, the city's former chief legal counsel and acting city manager, for their purported roles in a payout scheme that cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The lawsuits were filed Friday and the city is seeking $1.5 million from Schnirman and $889,985 from Agostisi, as well as punitive damages from both.

The lawsuits claim both men orchestrated a fraud involving separation payments made to a handful of city employees. An audit by the state comptroller found nearly $750,000 in questionable payments were made to employees.

According to the audit, the city's bargaining agreements state that employees will receive payouts equal to 30 percent of their accrued and unused sick and vacation time when leaving the city's employ. However, 10 employees — including Schnirman — received far more than that.

When he left the city to become Nassau County Comptroller, Schnirman was paid for all of his 878 accrued sick days, as well as 52.4 days of vacation time, when he was only entitled to be paid for 50. The audit questions $52,780 of Schnirman's payout — nearly half of his $108,022 total. Schirman has since returned the money in question.

The city claims Schnirman knew the payouts were illegal or should have as city manager.

The city also said Agostisi received a payout that he shouldn't have. According to the lawsuits, Schnirman cut a deal with Agostisi in December 2016 after Agostisi said he was going to resign as the city's corporation counsel. To keep him on, the city said Schnirman made a deal with Agostisi that would allow him to be paid all his accrued sick and vacation time, which the city says is in violation of its charter.

The city accuses Agostisi of entering into another agreement with Schnirman in 2017 that allowed him to be paid 80 percent of his separation payout, despite still being employed by the city.

The city claims when Agostisi became acting city manager, he had a duty to disclose the agreements but did not. When the City Council learned of the agreements, they requested copies, but the lawsuits claim Agostisi refused to provide them until Sept. 9, 2019, at which time he resigned.

The lawsuits accuse the men of committing breaches of fiduciary duty, fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud. Agostisi was accused of misappropriating funds and unjust enrichment.

The Nassau County District Attorney is investigating the payouts.