Mar 9, 2025

How Lee Dudek Became Acting Commissioner

      Here’s an extraordinary account of what led up to Michelle King’s firing as Acting Commissioner of Social Security and Lee Dudek’s elevation from the then Acting Chief of Staff, Tiffany Flick.

35 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry Tiff, you aren’t the guardian of SSA data and you don’t get to police it for “misinformation.” Easy dismissal for failure to state a claim and lack of standing.

Anonymous said...

Convincing and thorough. You’re quite a lawyer.

Anonymous said...

Are you Russo, Bobba, or Lee?

Anonymous said...

The allegations made here are frightening and should result in removal of the CIO
, Dudek and Bobba. They are going to steal the information and misuse the data.

Anonymous said...

Doesn’t management have to pay for their own legal fees in the federal government?

Anonymous said...

When the law finally closes in on Dudek he will grovel before Trump and beg for a pardon.

Anonymous said...

If Ms. Flick is correct, then people who don't know how SSA works, demanded source codes to computer programs that they didn't understand, that are vital for benefits processing. These programs can be broken by inexpert tinkering, which would cause massive service disruptions. The requestors were confirmed to be viewing highly private and sensitive information in SSA databases without required training, in an unsecure environment. It sounds like Ms. Flick faced a basic integrity test. Call out reckless and potentially illegal behavior that harms the public, or play along with it. She passed the test. Others failed.

Anonymous said...

Is Dudek smart enough to realize that when the tide turns (which it always does) he is going to be in serious trouble? I hope he is keeping good memory joggers for when he is subpoenaed by Congress.

Anonymous said...

As other have mentioned, it seems more important that he and Russo have professional liability insurance.

Anonymous said...

She is not a party to the lawsuit. And she is not an employee of the federal government

Anonymous said...

When millions of retirees face eviction because their check wasn’t deposited on time, it will be the end for Presidents Musk and Trump.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, the law won't close in on Dudek as long as Trump runs the Department of Justice. Trump made it quite clear that a crime isn't a crime if it's done in service of his administration.

Anonymous said...

Major news outlets should have printed her statement to let the public know what's been happening with their data.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, SS fraud is not that rare, nor always that easy to discover. Guessing Tiff forgot about this one:
106 defendants indicted in Social Security disability fraud costing federal taxpayers hundreds of millions
https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/106-defendants-indicted-social-security-disability-fraud-costing-federal-taxpayers

Anonymous said...

Then of course the most egregious one:
$550 Million Social Security Fraud Scheme
https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/fugitive-lawyer-involved-largest-social-security-fraud-scheme-sentenced-15-years-prison-his

Anonymous said...

I guess we know who’s telling Leland what to do. Why not just make Russo the acting commish to begin with?

Anonymous said...

You realize 106 out of 50 million counts as pretty rare, right? Math is hard.

Anonymous said...

In the case you cited, the fraud is not WITHIN SSA, but the public trying to perpetuate it- of which Dudek should’ve been the one to catch being the head of the Fraud unit. Would also probably help if SSA wasn’t so underfunded and having individual workers buried in the work of 5 people.

Anonymous said...

This affidavit confirms Dudek was “appointed” before King, serving plunder th FVRA, resigned. Any “appointment” of Dudek was invalid under the SSA because he’s not an “officer” within the meaning of the SSA. When will Congress and the media catch this?

Anonymous said...

You realize SSA employees don’t even make the disability determinations? And SSA OIG, who had their leader dismissed by the current regime, helped discover this fraud? Of course you don’t. Knowledge and brain cells aren’t your thing.

Anonymous said...

These systems are incredibly complex and old. Her account sounds credible. She was well respected at the agency.

Anonymous said...

I'll add to that - this press release is from 11 years ago, and the headline writer seems to be bad at math. While the headline says the fraud cost taxpayers "hundreds of millions," the body of the press release tells a different story. The final sentence reads "To date, the average SSDI payment for charged defendants...is approximately $210,000." Multiplying that by 106 defendants get us a total loss of $22,260,000. Not chump change, but a far cry from the claim at the top of the press release. And not in a single year, but over a period of 26 years (1988-2014).

According to SSA's actuarial data at https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4a6.html, over the same period, SSA paid out a total of $1,933,130,000,000. That's almost $2 trillion. So this fraud represented slightly more than 1 thousandth of a percent (0.00115%) of benefits paid in that time.

So not exactly rampant fraud.

Anonymous said...

Dudek... what a boot licker

Anonymous said...

Math is hard for you I see...

Anonymous said...

She literally was though. Everyone at SSA is a guardian of the data and personal information of millions of people. What an odd thing to say.

Anonymous said...

All employees are guardians of the SSA data, as she explained. It's a duty. And she was giving context and a time line.

Anonymous said...

Where can we get the rest of this case? Want to see the other related case documents.

Anonymous said...

Get a good lawyer Leland.

Anonymous said...

This resulted in fundamental changes to how decisions are made by ALJs and increased oversight throughout the agency. Laying off employees, allowing unsecure access to systems, and removing oversight would not have stopped this example.

Chasing the ghost of fraud does not warrant breaking the system.

Anonymous said...

Where are you quoting "misinformation" from? The declaration does not use the term even once. And the Commissioner's office is very much responsible for guarding SSA data. (See OMB Memorandum 16-24, "The head of the agency is ultimately responsible for ensuring that privacy interests are protected and that PII is managed responsibly within the agency.")

Anonymous said...

Google the term "PACER", and register for an account, then search the case number for the Maryland District Court.

Anonymous said...

Trumps Attorney General and Trump's Justice Department are not going to prosecute anyone who breaks the law for Trump.

Anonymous said...

That’s when State AG’s step in.

Anonymous said...

I hear Rudy Giuliani is available… wait didn’t he get disbarred? We can all overlook that small detail in the name of justice. Good luck Leland.

Anonymous said...

Russo has more clout as an insider techbro (he was at Shift4 with Jared Isaacman), so they need a useful idiot like Dudek to serve as a frontman/fall guy. It’s similar to how DOGE is supposedly run by some random lady on a beach in Mexico, but Musk gets to prance around with the chainsaw.