Last week, Eric Christopher Conn, a Kentucky disability attorney, pleaded guilty for his role in a scheme to defraud the Social Security Administration (SSA) of $550 million.
The scheme included Conn, a former SSA administrative law judge, and multiple doctors. Conn was apparently paying bribes to everyone connected to the scheme. From 2004 through 2011, the Floyd County firm submitted falsified documents for 1,700 claimants. Conn and his cohorts obligated the SSA to pay more than $550 million in lifetime benefits for their claimants.
Unfortunately, some of the claimants deserved the disability benefits but had no clue they were part of an illegal operation. Conn admitted to receiving more than $5.7 million in representation fees from the SSA.
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the SSA and the Office of Inspector General are diligent in pursuing fraud.
In 2014, the OIG received 121,461 fraud allegationsOf those, 8,335 were deemed to have merit1,291 criminal convictions were obtained, and 412 civil penalties assessed
Sentencing for Conn is slated for July 14, 2017.
