Patchogue asbestos company owner charged in $163K workers’ comp fraud scheme

A Patchogue asbestos removal company owner faces felony charges after prosecutors say he lied to his workers’ compensation insurer for more than a year, in order to shrink his premiums.

Joseph Arthurs, 56, and his company, VGN Enterprise Corporation, have been charged with fraudulent practices and failure to secure compensation, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney announced Thursday.

The district attorney said a September 2024 probe by the New York State Inspector General’s Office indicated that Arthurs held a state Department of Labor asbestos license and had filed multiple “Asbestos Project Notifications.” The records confirmed that VGN was doing higher-hazard asbestos abatement work that should have triggered a different, more expensive coverage classification, Tierney said.

Investigators also determined VGN’s actual annual payroll was $354,112, spread across a much larger workforce than the single employee he listed on the application, prosecutors said. The alleged misrepresentations revealed that VGN was underinsured by $163,561 and that Arthurs’ crews were working adequate coverage, Tierney said.

“Underrepresenting employees on worker’s compensation insurance means undercutting their safety,” Tierney said, adding that the fraud “strips workers of the safeguards they depend on, leaving them unprotected if they get hurt on the job.”

New York State Workers’ Compensation Fraud Inspector General Lucy Lang said the case reflects a broader effort to hold employers accountable for skirting coverage requirements that protect injured workers.

Arthurs was arrested Aug. 25 and issued a desk appearance ticket. He was arraigned Sept. 9 before. Jacobs released Arthurs on his own recognizance; the charges are not bail-eligible under New York law.

He is due back in court Sept. 21.

_{Top: Photo by Brett Jordan}