ALBANY -- After issuing more than a dozen press releases since 2008 touting his crackdown on alleged fraud in the state pension system by private attorneys, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has quietly restored the benefits to the 62 attorneys who had them revoked.

The surprising move came after two recent court rulings in Albany found that DiNapoli didn't provide the attorneys due process before stripping them of their pensions and credits in the system.

As a result, records show, DiNapoli has had to return nearly $500,000 to 13 attorneys, mainly from Long Island, who had their pensions revoked. He also had to restore the pension credits of about 18 other attorneys across the state, including several from the Albany area and western New York.

Emily DeSantis, a DiNapoli spokeswoman, stressed that the rulings found DiNapoli has the authority to take away the pensions, but the office must first follow proper procedures.

They plan to hold hearings to determine whether the recipients can keep the pensions, she said. But she said the office will not appeal the rulings, which were first reported by Newsday.

The rulings "affirmed the comptroller's authority to revoke pensions of people the retirement system deemed to be independent contractors." DeSantis said.

"However these individuals need to be granted more due process before the pensions are taken away."

Some attorneys who were publicly admonished in DiNapoli's probe were angered about his handling of the investigation, saying they should have never been targeted in the first place.

"For somebody who has worked hard for 28 years to develop a reputation, to have my name splashed on the news, really, really upset me," said Jeffrey Martin, an Orleans County attorney who accumulated 2.3 years of pension credits from his work as a part-time lawyer for the Holley school district. His credits will be restored, at least temporarily.

Martin was stripped of the pension credits by DiNapoli in his investigation of private attorneys who were classified as public employees for local governments or schools and received state pension benefits.

DiNapoli and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo found dozens of lawyers who were getting hefty public pensions, even though they were hired as independent contractors. For example, Long Island attorney Albert D'Agostino, who brought one of the lawsuits against DiNapoli, had been receiving a $108,000-a-year pension.

But unlike DiNapoli's cases, Cuomo's findings will stand. Instead of independently stripping the pensions, Cuomo reached settlements worth about $1.7 million with more than 70 attorneys, his office said.

Cuomo also got the state Legislature to pass reforms that tightened restrictions on pension benefits.

So in some cases, DiNapoli's office hasn't restored pension benefits to attorneys because they had already agreed to rescind them as part of the settlement with Cuomo.

Cuomo spokesman John Milgrim said the attorney general is continuing his investigation.

"Many of the individuals whose pensions are being returned by the Comptroller's Office are already under review by the Attorney General's Office," Milgrim said. "We will continue to review the facts of their individual cases to determine whether action by this Office is warranted."

Joseph Pondolfino of Oneonta, Otsego County, said he received approval from the state before he obtained pension benefits for his work as an attorney for the local school district. His $1,999-a-year pension, which he has received since 2004, has being restored.

"It's absolutely ludicrous when they took it," he said. "And the amount is such a pittance, that it's laughable."