Conn Now Accused Of Car Theft

     From WKYT:

In its hunt for Eric C. Conn, the FBI questioned numerous people Monday about what they might know about the Floyd County lawyer's run from the law.

Officials in Floyd County also confirmed to WYMT on Monday that Conn is now accused of stealing a car owned by the mother of his daughter. FBI agents agents would not confirm whether they thought Conn may be in the stolen vehicle. ...

In a news briefing in Louisville last week, agents say they believe a doctor accused of being Conn's accomplice in bilking the government of millions of dollars helped him flee. ...

Eric Conn "Better Surrender Before Monday"

     From the Lexington Herald-Dispatch:

... Scott White, Conn's attorney, repeated his call for Conn to surrender to authorities, and said the FBI was "ramping up" efforts to capture him. 

"That could well mean that he is about to be charged with a separate crime," White said in an email Friday. "And if that happens, my ability to restrict the consequences to a bond violation is seriously jeopardized. In that case, the number of years he is facing in prison will dramatically increase. In other words, it sounds like he better surrender before Monday." ...

A New Obsession

New Evidence In Conn Case?

     From some television station in Kentucky that hides its call letters on its website:

After a raid at the law offices of Eric C. Conn turned up new evidence for federal investigators, the FBI will hold a press conference on the embattled attorney's disappearance. ...

The FBI will hold the press conference at their Louisville offices at 10 a.m.

    Update: Apparently, there wasn't much news coming out of that news conference.

Another Conviction In Conn Scandal

     From the Floyd County Times:

A federal jury in Lexington Tuesday convicted a clinical psychologist for his role in a Social Security disability fraud scheme that included a former Social Security Administration (SSA) administrative law judge and that involved the submission of thousands of falsified medical documents to the SSA, obligating the SSA to pay more than $600 million in lifetime benefits to claimants predicated on these fraudulent submissions. ...

After a one-week trial in federal court in Lexington, the jury convicted Alfred Bradley Adkins, 45, of Shelbiana, of one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, one count of mail fraud, one count of wire fraud, and one count of making false statements. ...

A Tawdry Scheme

     From the Worcester (Massachusetts) Telegram and Gazette:

A city man who worked administering federal Social Security benefits in Worcester pleaded guilty to a bribery charge Friday in connection to allegations he orchestrated thousands in overpayments to claimants for personal gain. ...

According to an affidavit filed in federal court by Tawnya Patterson, a criminal investigator with the Office of the Inspector General for the Social Security Administration, the alleged activity occurred between August of 2016 and Sept. 2016. The case for which he was charged involved an $8,600 payment that a specific claimant did not deserve — a payment he facilitated, the records show, by creating false documents in exchange for $2,000. ...

Mr. Klapper, she alleged, processed multiple changes to accounts for disabled children who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI), “to which the claimants were not entitled.

“In total, Klapper was believed to have changed SSI records a total of 22 times for seven beneficiaries, resulting in underpayments of less than $5,000 each time being due to the claimants,” she wrote.

The case that resulted in the bribery charge included requests for sexual pictures and implied sexual acts, the records show, before Mr. Klapper ultimately accepted $2,000. ...

This Fugitive Business Must Be Tougher Than He Thought

     From the Lexington Herald Leader:

A person claiming to be fugitive lawyer Eric C. Conn laid out the terms of his surrender in emails sent to his attorney and the Herald-Leader in recent days, then contacted the newspaper early Sunday to provide extra details aimed at confirming his identity. ... 

In an email sent to the newspaper Friday, the person claiming to be Conn said he fled because he felt it was unfair that two Social Security judges convicted in relation to his case would get far less prison time than him. 

Conn’s attorney, Scott White, confirmed that he received an email Thursday from someone claiming to be his client and that the email contained some of the same details that were in the message sent to the newspaper. 

White said he first thought the email was a joke, but became convinced there was a high likelihood that the emails to him and the newspaper were from Conn. 
The emails set out conditions under which the sender would surrender to the FBI. 

They were that the terms of his surrender be made available for public review and discussion; that the FBI publicly state Conn fled because he found it unfair that others in the case will receive a combined sentence less than his; that the FBI publicly acknowledge Conn has no history of violence and that a caution they issued to members of the public about approaching him was not based on a specific concern; and finally, that the FBI not charge him with additional crimes related to him fleeing.

$20,000 Price On Eric Conn's Head

     The FBI is offering a $20,000 reward for information on the whereabouts of Eric Conn. They say his GPS ankle bracelet was found in a backpack on I-75 in Lexington, KY.

Social Security Is Paying Benefits To 66 Million People And This Is All The Fraud OIG Can Find?

 

From the Semi-Annual Report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG)

How Many Years Will This Add To His Sentence?

      Eric Conn is now a fugitive.

About $200 Per Case

     From a press release:

David Black Daugherty, 81, of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves of the Eastern District of Kentucky to an information charging him with two counts of receiving illegal gratuities. Sentencing is set for Aug. 25, 2017. 

Daugherty was an administrative law judge at the Social Security hearing office in Huntington, West Virginia (Huntington Hearing Office) for more than 20 years, where his primary responsibility was to adjudicate disability claims on behalf of the SSA. According to admissions made as part of his guilty plea, from November 2004 to April 2011, Daugherty accepted more than $609,000 in cash payments, total, in more than approximately 3,100 cases from Social Security disability lawyer, Eric Christopher Conn, of Pikeville, Kentucky, for awarding disability benefits to claimants represented by Conn. Furthermore, in an effort to conceal the source of these cash payments, Daugherty divided cash deposits into various bank branches and accounts, he admitted.

Daugherty admitted that he sought out Conn’s cases pending with the Huntington Hearing Office, contacted Conn and told him what type of medical evidence to submit in support of disability findings and then awarded benefits to claimants represented by Conn without holding hearings. As a result, Conn ultimately received at least $7.1 million in representative fees from the SSA, and Daugherty further obligated the SSA to pay more than $550 million in lifetime benefits to claimants, according to the plea.

Hearing On Stopping Disability Fraud

     From a press release:

House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Sam Johnson (R-TX) announced today that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing, entitled “Stopping Disability Fraud: Risk, Prevention, and Detection,” on Wednesday, April 26, at 10:00 AM in room 2020 of the Rayburn House Office Building. At the hearing, Members will discuss the status of the Social Security Administration’s efforts to prevent disability fraud after several high-profile multi-million-dollar fraud schemes. On the day of the hearing, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) will release a new report to update Members on the SSA’s efforts to fight disability fraud. ...

In 2015, the GAO created the Fraud Risk Framework as a guide to federal agencies in developing antifraud strategies by using leading practices for managing fraud risk. As part of the framework, the GAO recommends that agencies like the SSA conduct a fraud risk assessment and develop their antifraud strategies based on identified fraud risks. In response, Chairman Johnson requested the GAO to conduct a study of the SSA’s implementation of the Fraud Risk Framework and to provide an analysis of the SSA’s antifraud activities. GAO will release the findings of its study at the Subcommittee’s April 26 hearing.

Nine Year Sentence For Stealing Social Security Checks

     From the Tampa Bay Times:

A former U.S. Postal Service mail handler was ordered to serve nine years in prison Wednesday for stealing close to $3 million in Social Security checks from a St. Petersburg mail-processing facility.

Stacy Darnell Mitchell, 48, once worked at the St. Petersburg Processing and Distribution Facility, where over the course of several months in 2012, he stole more than 3,000 checks....

That's A Total Of $83.2 Million If I'm Adding Right

     From the Associated Press:

A Kentucky lawyer facing prison time for a scheme to defraud the government of nearly $600 million in federal disability payments took another legal hit Wednesday when a judge ordered him to pay nearly $31.5 million in damages to the government and two whistleblowers.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Amul R. Thapar was the latest fallout for Eric C. Conn, the self-proclaimed "Mr. Social Security" who lived in a palatial home and was a frequent world traveler. Thapar ordered Conn to pay $12 million in damages and $19 million in penalties. The penalties represent the maximum $11,000 assessed for each fraudulent claim identified.

"He doesn't have those kind of assets anymore," said Scott White, one of Conn's attorneys.

Conn pleaded guilty recently to stealing from the Social Security Administration and bribing a federal judge. ...

As part of that plea deal, Conn is to pay $5.7 million to the government, reflecting the amount of fraudulent fees he received, and reimburse to Social Security $46 million it paid in disability claims based on fraudulent information Conn used. ...

Eric Conn Pleads Guilty

     From the Lexington Herald-Leader:

Flamboyant Social Security lawyer Eric C. Conn, who won disability checks for thousands of people in Eastern Kentucky but caused heartache for many former clients after he was accused of cheating on cases, pleaded guilty Friday in a federal fraud case.

Conn, 55, pleaded guilty to one count of stealing from the Social Security Administration and one count of bribing a federal judge. ...

He faces up to 12 years in prison. He is to be sentenced July 14. ...

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/article140620328.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/article140620328.html#storylink=cpyHe faces up to 12 years in prison. He is to be sentenced July 14.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/article140620328.html#storylink=cpy

Former SSA ALJ Sentenced To Jail For Trading Sex For Benefits

     From the Alabama Media Group, which is probably a newspaper or group of newspapers:

A former Alabama Social Security Administration judge was sentenced to federal prison today for trading social security benefits for sex.

Paul Stribling Conger Jr., 73, was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison by U.S. District Judge Virginia Hopkins. Because of the additional one day, he will be eligible for early release. ...

Court documents show in 2013, Conger was presiding over the hearing of a claimant who was approved for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) monthly payments and benefits. The claimant, who is only identified in records by her initials T.M., approached Conger in Nov. 2013 about receiving her retroactive benefits in a lump sum of about $10,000.

The two then engaged in a sex act and other sexual contact that day at the federal courthouse in Tuscaloosa, documents show. T.M. and Conger remained in contact by phone, and Conger invited her to return to the courthouse later that month. She didn't go back. ...

ALJ Charged With Misdemeanor Sexual Assault

     From the Detroit Free Press:

A federal administrative law judge is facing sexual assault charges in Livonia after prosecutors say he groped a woman at an office in the city.

The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office announced this afternoon that Judge Henry Perez, 74 of Novi will be arraigned Friday morning on three counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, all misdemeanors. The prosecutor's office said the complainant, a 33-year-old Pontiac woman, was working the evening Dec. 28, 2016 in the Social Security office at 19575 Victor Parkway in Livonia when Perez called her into his office.

Once inside, the prosecutor's office said it is alleged Perez made sexual contact with her by touching her body against her will.

Perez is a federal administrative law judge for the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review. He is currently on leave from the position, according to the prosecutor's office. ...

Former Social Security Employee Indicted

     From the New York Daily News:

An ex-Social Security Administration worker was indicted by a Brooklyn federal grand jury for swiping social security numbers and birthdates, authorities said Friday.

Sharon Coffee-Dean, of Queens, is charged with stealing the information of 41 people and selling them to individuals who filed fraudulent tax returns.

Imposter Phishing Scheme

     From a press release:

The Acting Inspector General of Social Security, Gale Stallworth Stone, is warning citizens about a nationwide telephone “imposter phishing” scheme.  The Social Security Administration (SSA) and its Office of the Inspector General (OIG) have received several reports from citizens across the country about persons receiving phone calls from individuals posing as OIG investigators.  The caller indicates an issue exists pertaining to the person’s Social Security account or Social Security number (SSN) and directs the person call a non-SSA telephone number to address the issue. 

The reports indicate the calls include a recording from a caller stating she is “Nancy Jones,” an “officer with the Inspector General of Social Security.”  The recording goes on to say the person’s Social Security account, SSN, and/or benefits are suspended, and that he or she should call 806-680-2373 to resolve the issue.  Citizens should be aware that the scheme’s details may vary; however, citizens should avoid calling the number provided, as the unknown caller might attempt to acquire personal information. ...

"Billy With Social Security"

     From The Gazette of Colorado Springs:

Lately I've heard from a half a dozen people who have gotten phone calls from "Billy with Social Security." ... We can tell you "Billy" is not an employee of the Social Security Administration. ... They say that Billy claimed he could help them get disability payments from Social Security if they would share some of their personal information with him. ...

According to the Office of the Inspector General, which prevents and detects fraud in the Social Security Administration, they hear about crooks impersonating their employees. I'm told the intent may be to steal your identity or raid your bank account. They may ask for your Social Security number, date of birth, your mother's maiden name, or your bank account information. Those should be red flags. Don't give a stranger those details. ...