Jun 26, 2017

Misdirection Indeed

      From the Associated Press:
A fugitive Kentucky lawyer at the center of a nearly $600 million Social Security fraud case has fled the country using a fake passport and has gotten help from someone overseas with a job to help support himself.

The flamboyant disability lawyer Eric Conn, in an email exchange with The Lexington Herald-Leader over the weekend, told the paper he flew to a country that does not have an extradition agreement with the U.S.
The paper reported Sunday that it tried to verify Conn's identity by asking him questions that only he could answer, including his Social Security number, which it obtained from court documents, and details about one of his marriages. He answered correctly, the paper said. ...
He surrendered his passport in April 2016 after being indicted. An accomplice outside the country obtained a fake passport for him, an email said.
Conn said the day after cutting off the monitor he used the passport to fly out of the U.S.
He made a reference in one email to being on another continent but did not say which.
Conn said he boarded a commercial flight without any significant problems but did not say where he caught the flight.
He did say he worked to misdirect authorities. For example, Conn said he used his credit card to buy a ticket to fly out of John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. He said however that he never intended to go there because of the likelihood the FBI was monitoring his transactions.
He used a different, pre-paid credit card to buy a second ticket and used that one to leave the country, he said. ...

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dang if this hasn't turned into Grisham book.

Anonymous said...

It has. I will stay tuned for the next chapter.

Anonymous said...

Another news account says 2 ALJs were involved. Who, besides Daughtry?

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure about another ALJ on the take, but the chief ALJ knowingly allowed this to go on for awhile and allowed abuse of the employees who reported irregularities.

Anonymous said...

@ 10:58,

Andrus, who was the HOCALJ. He conspired to retaliate against 2 whistleblowers and lied about it when testifying before a Senate subcommittee.

Anonymous said...

@12:40:

What, if anything, did the Agency do to ALJ Andrus? I am very curious insofar as my experiences with SSA/ODAR top officials is they are more inclined to cover-up, protect, and shield known wrongdoers from being held accountable on any meaningful way by the Agency itself. This often comes at the expense of the careers of the whistleblowers themselves, as well as employees who were targets and casualties of Manager's who engaged in illegal Prohibited Personnel Practices, let alone those who had a long track record of doing this over a period of several years, e.g., former ROCALJ Garmon, who was removed from his ROCALJ position only to be promoted to higher levels of Management, and gerrymander an entire Hearings Office close to his home from which he works. These types of shenanigans cannot be tolerated.

Anonymous said...

Thank God he is only a fraud, liar, and cheat. An example of how our great TSA and security procedures protect us from false ID, suspicious travelers, and those who might do us harm. We are lost in more ways than we want to imagine.

Anonymous said...

Have they checked the Ecuadorian Embassy in London? Maybe he's working for Wikileaks now.

Anonymous said...

The Agency settled with Andrus, he retired, and the MSPB action ODAR brought against him was dismissed.

I'm guessing Conn went to Vietnam via the Phillippines. That's what I would have done.

"ERIC- RUNNN!"

Anonymous said...

this man has so much potential! He needs to make peace with the Feds, do a little time and come out and totally recreate himself! This man is a marketing genius---just check out the Conn Girls! Sex and social security disability! He somehow needs to sell the rights to all of this to the media industry and take the proceeds and go into large scale car sales, defense contracting or investment banking! This man has big, huuuuuge kahones! If Donald Trump could only meet, pardon and hire this man! His only sin was trying to be corrupt in a field that helps real people. Eric, America will be waiting for you!

Anonymous said...

Perhaps he planned ahead for when the bottom dropped out. Whitey Bulger pulled it off for a long time- and his was without leaving the country.

With all the security features and money spent on biometrics fake passports can still work...the details would be interesting.

Anonymous said...

Maybe he had some plastic surgery too. He's not exactly a face in the crowd type person. I'm still upset how Andrus was allowed to abuse and mistreat people. Other representatives, claimants, and other hearing persons suffered as a result.

Anonymous said...

He can always run for Governor of Florida. They seem to like Governors who defraud the government programs, i.e. Medicare.

Anonymous said...

@4:08:

I do not blame you for being upset over how former HOCALJ Andrus was allowed to abuse and mistreat people and was not held accountable in any meaningful way by SSA/ODAR.

Let me get this straight: Andrus, a HOCALJ, no less, engaged in a Conspiracy; Obstructed Justice; Covered-Up, Protected, and Shielded ALJ Daugherty, and the outside Agency employees involved; Retaliated against the two Whistleblowers; and undeniably engaged in illegal Prohibited Personnel Practices.

So, my question for Agency officials and Prosecutors is why did he get off so easily by simply being allowed to retire? Mention is made he "settled" with SSA/ODAR, but it does not appear this was anything significant. Why was Andrus not prosecuted for Conspiracy and Obstruction of Justice? Further, why did SSA/ODAR refuse to hold him accountable?

I do not understand why top SSA/ODAR Officials are repeatedly allowed to cover-up, shield, and protect known wrongdoers, such as former HOCALJ Andrus, and former ROCALJ Garmon, who knowingly engaged in illegal Prohibited Personnel Practices for many years and wrongfully destroyed the lives of several good, career SSA/ODAR employees, and refuse to hold these individuals accountable in any meaningful way over and over with no concern whatsoever for the employees and others whose lives were literally destroyed by their illegal acts. Why is this brand of Organizational Discrimination not only tolerated, but accepted and encouraged by SSA/ODAR Management? Why is there no Accountability, or justice, for those whose lives were ruined, or forever changed, by the illegal acts of these Managers? In Andrus's case, why wasn't he even Prosecuted? Clearly, this tolerance and acceptance of wrongdoing by SSA/ODAR Officials must stop now.

Anonymous said...

Aint that America! If this man were on Wall Street lying cheating and stealing he would be getting a two hundred million dollar bonus and promotions. This man is only trying to get ahead in 21st century Gilded Age America. His mistake was cheating in a poor person social program industry. The hypocracy here is enormous. He should have started a for profit real estate college and he would be president.