From Texas Border Business:
HOUSTON – A former Social Security employee has been ordered to federal prison for aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to steal government funds.
David Lam, 46, Pearland, pleaded guilty June 5, 2025.
U.S. District Judge Sim Lake has now ordered Lam to serve 84 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release. At the hearing, the court heard about the complex nature of Lam’s scheme and how it involved dozens of fraudulent applications. Lam also used his access to personal data, which was necessary for his actual job duties, to facilitate his embezzlement and theft. Lam was further ordered to pay $3,346,280 in restitution.
Lam was an operations supervisor and claims specialist for the Social Security Administration office in Houston. …
10 comments:
Perhaps I’m in the wrong, but I feel bad for the employee. One of the most stressful jobs on planet earth, he was practically forced into it just to keep his sanity. It’d be nice if he could get out, apologize, and get a second chance at SSA.
Take note DOGE..
A former Social Security employee has been ordered to federal prison for aggravated identity theft.
Very glad he was hammered. Federal sentences result in an 85% rate of incarceration. He stole a lot of money.
Under the Trump administration he should he promoted and pardoned.
Umm, no. We’re all stressed and still perfectly capable of NOT committing fraud.
Interesting that this guy (who made claims on records of people who were dead or didn't exist) got prison time while a recent post on this blog discussed an SSA employee who got probation for diverting funds from actual beneficiaries. It seems the justice system treats people worse if they steal from the trust fund versus from elderly and disabled people.
6:32 am, certainly hope you are not a SSA employee. That kind of shameful theft cannot be explained or forgiven. FedPay data base has Lam as an employee since at least 2004. Really a stretch to blame anyone but himself and co-conspirators.
Called OMB this morning and waited a long time to get through. This individual was stressed out and I did not feel it as appropriate to pile on. These are difficult times for all but breaking the law is never the answer.
It probably has more to do with the amounts involved and number of victims than anything else. The other person you’re talking about stole a total of $25,000 from multiple people while this guy helped steal over $3 million directly from the trust fund. I believe the guy from LA was convicted of misdemeanors because he took smaller amounts from several people instead of a massive amount from one source. Doesn’t make it right or morally better, but different laws and sentencing likely apply to the different situations.
Breaking the law is never the answer. But being asked to do increasing amounts of increasingly difficult work under nigh impossible circumstances and expectations for stagnant poverty wages is certainly a big-a$$ set of mitigating circumstances in my book.
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