It Must Be Getting Real For Conn Now

     From the Lexington Herald-Leader:

Eric C. Conn violated his bond conditions when he left the country and did not show up for sentencing in his Social Security disability fraud case, U.S. Magistrate Judge Magistrate Judge Robert E. Wier ruled Thursday.

The decision means the government can immediately sell the former disability attorney’s office complex ...

No new information was provided at the hearing about how Conn allegedly left the country or his whereabouts in the six months he spent in hiding before he was arrested Dec. 2 in Honduras. ...

White said Conn gave prosecutors a substantial amount of information after negotiating his plea, which helped in cases against Daugherty and Bradley Adkins, a Pikeville psychologist convicted of signing false evaluations for Conn.

One question at issue is whether prosecutors should now be able to use information Conn provided to try to convict him of additional charges.

White said in court Thursday that Conn no longer has money to pay him.

White asked to stay on as Conn’s attorney by appointment of the court — paid with public funds ...

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/article192020264.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/article192020264.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/article192020264.html#storylink=cpyNo new information was provided at the hearing about how Conn allegedly left the country or his whereabouts in the six months he spent in hiding before he was arrested Dec. 2 in Honduras.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/article192020264.html#storylink=cpy

Feds Going After Conn's Money

     The Feds are trying to recover Eric Conn's assets. So far, all they've gotten or even seem to know about aren't impressive. If you think Conn made tens of millions of dollars, you're wrong. Even with fraud, I don't see a way to make it that profitable a way to make a living. Conn's efforts at concealment seem to have been equally unimpressive. Bitcoin? Please, even I know that doesn't work.

Don't Do The Crime If You Can't Do The Time

     From The Republic:

Charges are piling up against a Kentucky lawyer whose capture in Central America ended his six months on the run to avoid prison for his role in a massive Social Security fraud case.

A federal prosecutor filed court papers Wednesday signaling the government will try Eric Conn on more than a dozen charges including mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.

If convicted, the flamboyant attorney could spend the rest of his life in prison.

Conn would have avoided the charges if he had abided by his plea deal with the government. ...

Explosive Package Sent To Acting Social Security Commissioner

     From The Daily Beast:

A Texas woman has been accused of mailing explosives to Gov. Greg Abbott and former President Barack Obama. Abbott reportedly opened the package but it failed to explode because he didn’t open it “as designed.” Court documents say 46-year-old Julia Poff faces charges of transporting explosives with intent to kill or injure for packages allegedly sent to Abbott and Obama in October 2016. Poff also allegedly sent a package to Carolyn Colvin, the commissioner of the Social Security Administration. A six-count indictment alleges the letter bombs “could've caused severe burns and death.” Poff was reportedly angry about not receiving support from her ex-husband. ...

Social Security Employee Convicted Of Fraud

     From some radio or television station in Indiana that likes to call itself "ABC57":

A South Bend woman who worked for the Social Security Administration was convicted in federal court of ten counts of making false entries in government records, two counts of conversion of government money, and one count of wire fraud.

Sharon Ramos, 56, was convicted after a four day jury trial.

Between January 2008 and December 2013, Ramos made false and fictitious representations on Supplemental Security Income accounts of numerous claimants. The improper entries resulted in numerous claimants receiving payments they were not entitled to receive, according to the US Attorney's Office. ... 

What About Criminal Charges?

     From a press release:

The United States recovered $200,000 as a settlement of allegations that Stephen G. Ackerman violated the federal False Claims Act by improperly accepting Social Security Disability Income payments and misleading the Social Security Administration (“SSA”) about his work activity, acting U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer announced.

The Settlement Agreement resolves contentions by the United States that Mr. Ackerman failed to accurately report his work activity to SSA between January 2011 and January 2016.  The United States contends that Mr. Ackerman engaged in substantial gainful activity that made him ineligible to receive his monthly disability income payments through his work on behalf of Organic Alternatives, a marijuana retail business Mr. Ackerman owns and operates.  Because Mr. Ackerman was not truthful to SSA about his work activity, the United States contends that he is liable under the False Claims Act, which allows for civil penalties and treble damages. ...

     Did Mr. Ackerman buy his way out of criminal charges?

Nine Months For Throwing Rock Through Window

     From the New Orleans Times-Picayune:

A Metairie man was sentenced Wednesday (Nov. 1) to nine months in prison for hurling a "medium to large sized rock" through a second-floor window of the U.S. Social Security Administration's office in Kenner, according to federal court documents.

Bobby Joseph Hammond, 38, was also ordered to pay $1,330 in restitution after he previously pleaded guilty to felony destruction of government property for throwing the rock. ...

In an interview with federal investigators, Hammond's mother said her son has mental illness and refuses to take his prescribed medication. ...

In a separate item, the affidavit shows that Hammond's mother told investigators she used to be the payee for her son's Social Security checks, but he had asked her to remove herself, which stopped the checks from being deposited into her bank account. 

After Hammond's checks were no longer deposited into her bank account, Hammond grew angry "because he did not have access to his money," according to his mother's statements. ...

Why So Little Attention To Retiree Fraud?

     I don't bother to post about it since the stories are repetitive and boring but Social Security prosecutes a number of people each year for disability benefits fraud. It's usually recipients who failed to report under the table earnings. In comparison to the number of people drawing benefits it's a small number.

     I never hear anything about another similar type of Social Security fraud, one that I'm pretty sure happens regularly. It may even happen at the same rate as that of disability recipients hiding earnings. That's early retiree fraud. We don't have a retirement earnings test for those over full retirement age, currently 66, but we do for those between 62 and 66. Retirement benefits for people in this age group are subject to reduction due to earnings. There are many, many retirees between 62 and 66. Surely, some of them are working under the table and drawing retirement benefits they're not entitled to.

     Is Social Security making any effort to root out retiree benefit fraud?  The only retirement benefit fraud I ever hear about is concealing a death and continuing to collect the decedent's benefits. That can't be the only fraud going on.

    Why all the attention to disability recipients and little or no attention to retiree benefit fraud? Why single out disability recipients?

Indictments In Conn Flight

      From the Lexington, KY Herald-Leader:

Disgraced former disability lawyer Eric C. Conn plotted his escape for a year before absconding from home detention weeks before he was to be sentenced in a massive fraud case, according to a federal indictment unsealed Monday.

The indictment levels new charges against Conn and Curtis Lee Wyatt, who worked for Conn at his law office in Stanville and allegedly tested security at the U.S. border with Mexico on Conn’s behalf. ...

The indictment charged that Wyatt, of Raccoon in Pike County, took a number of steps to help Conn escape, including opening a bank account in Wyatt’s name that Conn used to transfer money out of the country. ...

Wyatt also allegedly bought a 2002 Dodge Ram pickup truck from an unnamed seller in Somerset in May for $3,425, then delivered it to Conn in Lexington on June 1 for him to use in the escape. Wyatt had the truck registered under the name Disability Services LLC. ...

In the weeks leading up to the escape, Conn also had Wyatt use pedestrian entrances to Mexico at Nogales, Ariz., and Columbus, N.M., in order to test security procedures for people crossing into Mexico from the U.S., the indictment said.

The FBI found the truck in New Mexico. ...

The indictment also mentions an unindicted co-conspirator. That can refer to someone who is cooperating with authorities in a case. ...

Wyatt also allegedly played a role in trying to discredit an employee at the Social Security Administration who had tried to bring attention to potential improprieties by Conn and David B. Daugherty, an administrative law judge who rubber-stamped disability claims for Conn. Conn came up with a scheme to have his employees follow the woman, Sarah Carver, to try to discredit her by catching her not working from home on days when she was supposed to, according to sworn statements from other former Conn employees to U.S. Senate investigators. ...

     I've never crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. Don't the Mexican authorities ask to see a passport?

Crime Doesn't Pay, Part Eleventy Million

     From the Worcester, Massachusetts Telegram:

A former Social Security Administration employee from Worcester who pleaded guilty in June to fraudulently disbursing thousands of dollars in government money in return for bribes was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison Friday. 

Julio Klapper, a married father of five who solicited sexual activity from a cooperating government witness while under investigation, told a judge Friday he was ashamed of his conduct and apologized. ... 

On June 10 Mr. Klapper pleaded guilty to a single count of bribery after federal investigators caught him in a 2016 attempt to funnel $8,600 to a claimant in exchange for $2,000. Separately from that offense, the government said, he funneled more than $70,000 to others between 2015 and 2016 in exchange for more than $15,000 in bribes. ...

H.R. 2792 Passes House

     From a press release:

On Thursday , September 28 , 2017, the House of Representatives approved by a vote of 224 to 171 an amended version of H.R. 2792 , a bill to cut off Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits entirely for certain people with disabilities, as well as seniors. The proposed cut would bar payment of SSI benefits to people with an outstanding arrest warrant for an alleged felony or for an alleged violation of probation or parole. 

H.R. 2792 would revive an old, failed policy that had catastrophic effects for many people with disabilities and seniors, employing procedures that did not withstand judicial scrutiny. This proposal would not help law enforcement secure arrests. The Social Security Act already prohibits payments to people fleeing from law enforcement to avoid prosecution or imprisonment. ...

Based on prior experience with SSA’s failed former policy, the people who would be affected are those whose cases are inactive and whom law enforcement is not pursuing. Most of the warrants in question are decades old and involve minor infractions, including warrants routinely issued when a person was unable to pay a fine or court fee, or a probation supervision fee. Many people are not even aware that a warrant was issued for them, as warrants are often not served on the individual. Some people will be swept up as a result of mistaken identity, or paperwork errors, which can take months or even years to resolve. ...

CUFF That Impulse

     From a press release issued by the Coalition for Citizens with Disablities (CCD), the major umbrella group of nonprofits working to help the disabled:

On Wednesday, September 13, 2017, the House Ways and Means Committee passed an amended version of H.R. 2792, the Control Unlawful Fugitive Felons [CUFF] Act of 2017. This bill would cut off Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits entirely for certain people with disabilities, as well as seniors. The proposed cut would bar payment of SSI benefits to people with an outstanding arrest warrant for an alleged felony or for an alleged violation of probation or parole. 

H.R. 2792 would revive an old, failed policy that had catastrophic effects for many people with disabilities and seniors, employing procedures that did not withstand judicial scrutiny. This proposal would not help law enforcement secure arrests. The Social Security Act already prohibits payments to people fleeing from law enforcement to avoid prosecution or imprisonment. The Social Security Administration (SSA) currently notifies law enforcement of the whereabouts of every person with a warrant for an alleged felony or an alleged violation of probation or parole who turns up in SSA’s databases. This bill would not change these policies and procedures.

Based on prior experience with SSA’s failed former policy, the people who would be affected are those whose cases are inactive and whom law enforcement is not pursuing. Most of the warrants in question are decades old and involve minor infractions, including warrants routinely issued when a person was unable to pay a fine or court fee, or a probation supervision fee. Many people are not even aware that a warrant was issued for them, as warrants are often not served on the individual. Some people will be swept up as a result of mistaken identity, or paperwork errors, which can take months or even years to resolve.

Resolving these warrants can be extremely hard and costly: people often must go before a judge in the issuing jurisdiction, and typically need counsel to assist them in navigating the process. Often, people have moved in the intervening years and live far from the issuing jurisdiction. ...

     Having seen this before, I definitely agree with CCD. This is the sort of thing that looks good from 30,000 feet. However, at ground level it's obviously unfair. People are deprived of their income over minor matters from many years earlier and sometimes they've done nothing wrong. They have to persuade prosecutors to dismiss ancient charges that couldn't possibly be prosecuted. Prosecutors are sometimes cooperative, sometimes hostile. It just depends upon the prosecutor. It's not fighting crime. It's not achieving any worthy goal. It's just harsh.

Alleged SSI Fraud Found During A Terrorism Investigation

     From the Buffalo News:

When FBI agents searched Ari Elias Baum's Facebook page, they were looking for evidence of a terrorist in training.

They already knew about Baum's posting of a photo depicting a couple dressed in military garb and holding weapons, with the caption, "Husband and wife fighting for Islam. The most beautiful photos I have ever seen."

The FBI also knew about the Buffalo man's travels to Yemen and Facebook friendship with a man whose inflammatory posts had come to the attention of terrorism investigators.

Baum was never charged with any terrorism crime but he will stand trial later this month for Social Security fraud, and the government would like to resurrect the terrorism claims as part of its prosecution.

That was until a federal judge said no. ...

He ordered prosecutors to stay away from any mention of the terrorism investigation but allowed them to get into Baum's travels overseas, as well as make general references to his religion. ...

Baum is charged with Social Security fraud and making false statements, and the evidence against him was uncovered as part of the FBI's terrorism investigation. The evidence includes an alleged Facebook conversation between Baum and his stepfather while Baum was traveling overseas.

"How is your money holding out?" asks his stepfather, Dr. R. Bruce Baum.

"Life is cheaper here but I will lose the SSI eventually if I stay here because they will find out that I am out of the country," Baum replied. ...

The FBI's investigation into Baum became public shortly after his arrest on fraud charges three years ago. The four-count indictment against him claims he stole $4,277 in Social Security disability benefits over a four-month period in 2013. ...

     To explain, while benefits under Title II of the Social Security Act, that is, benefits based upon FICA contributions, are payable to those who are traveling or living outside the U.S. (with one rare exception), Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits are not supposed to be paid in a month in which an individual is outside the United States (except in one extremely rare circumstance). These rules are not well understood by SSI recipients. I don't think a prosecution would be common for something like this because there would be no proof that the SSI recipient was intentionally breaking the law. In this case, maybe there is proof of what lawyers call scienter.

Daugherty Sentenced To Four Years

     From the Washington Post:

A former administrative law judge has been sentenced to four years in prison for taking bribes from a Kentucky lawyer in a $600 million Social Security fraud case. 

Eighty-one-year-old David B. Daugherty of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, pleaded guilty in May to taking more than $600,000 in bribes in cases involving clients of Eric C. Conn, who is now a fugitive and was sentenced in absentia to 12 years in prison. ... 

The Most Common Social Security Fraud

     From a report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG):

In May 2012, the Social Security Administration (SSA) introduced my Social Security — an Internet services portal that allows individuals to create a personal online account to access their own information. In January 2013, the Agency enhanced my Social Security to allow individuals to change their direct deposit bank information. Shortly after SSA made this change, the Agency and the Office of the Inspector General began receiving fraud allegations related to unauthorized direct deposit changes....

Based on our random samples, we estimated that $10.9 million in benefit payments for about 7,200 beneficiaries was misdirected in CYs [Calendar Years] 2014 through 2016. ...

We also estimated SSA prevented about $14.1 million in benefits from being misrouted from about 11,900 beneficiaries whose direct deposit bank account was changed without their authorization.

Comparing our analysis of the CY 2014 through 2016 data the Agency provided to our prior review of CY 2013 data showed that the amount of benefits misdirected through my Social Security decreased. Also, we made recommendations to SSA related to verifying the identities of my Social Security users in our September 2016 report. As a result, we are not making any additional recommendations for corrective action at this time. ...

Hard Time

     From the Lexington, KY Herald Leader:

A Pikeville psychologist tried to hang himself after he was convicted of conspiring with disability attorney Eric C. Conn to defraud the Social Security Administration of millions of dollars, according to a court record.

A federal prosecutor cited the unsuccessful suicide attempt in arguing that Alfred Bradley Adkins should not be released on bond pending sentencing.

U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves turned down Adkins’ request to be released. ...

Adkins was charged with signing false mental-impairment evaluations for Conn to use in claims.

A jury convicted Adkins on June 12 of conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud and making a false statement in a record submitted to Social Security.

Reeves ordered Adkins taken into custody after the verdict.

About an hour later, the U.S. Marshals Service notified Reeves that Adkins had tried to hang himself in a holding cell at the federal courthouse in Lexington, according to a court document. The document didn’t provide any additional details.

Reeves said in an order that although Adkins’ attempt was unsuccessful, it “refutes his claims of stability and the assertions that Adkins is not a danger to himself or to others, or that he would not flee if given the opportunity.” ...

Adkins faces up to 65 years in prison, according to a motion by Dustin M. Davis, an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice. ...

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/article167332772.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/article167332772.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/article167332772.html#storylink=cpyAdkins faces up to 65 years in prison, according to a motion by Dustin M. Davis, an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/article167332772.html#storylink=cpy

Andrus Sentenced

     From the Associated Press:

A former chief regional Social Security judge [actually Hearing Office Chief Judge] has been sentenced to prison for scheming to retaliate against an employee who blew the whistle on alleged fraud by a Kentucky lawyer. 

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports Charlie Paul Andrus was sentenced Monday to six months in federal prison. 

Andrus pleaded guilty last year to conspiring with disability lawyer Eric Conn to interfere with a person's employment. Conn — at the center of a nearly $600 million Social Security fraud case — disappeared this past June. ... 

Minnesota Man Arrested For Making Threats At Social Security Office

     From AJC.com, whatever that is -- Atlanta Journal Constitution?

A Minnesota man was arrested Wednesday after threatening employees at a Social Security office ...

According to Capt. John Sherwin of the Rochester Police Department, Leonard Booth, 26, walked into the Social Security office at 10:15 a.m. and complained that he was unable to receive benefits. Booth began “acting erratically” and threatened employees with bodily harm, Sherwin told KAAL. ...

A Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Acting Inspector General of Social Security, Gale Stallworth Stone, is warning citizens about a new Social Security Administration (SSA) employee impersonation scheme.  SSA and its Office of the Inspector General (OIG) are receiving reports from citizens across the country about phone calls from an individual posing as an SSA employee.  The caller attempts to acquire personally identifiable information from victims to then edit the victims’ direct deposit, address, and telephone information with SSA.

Acting Inspector General Stone warns citizens to be cautious, and to avoid providing information such as your SSN or bank account numbers to unknown persons over the phone or internet unless you are certain of who is receiving it.  “You must be very confident that the source is the correct business party, and your information will be secure after you release it,” Stone said.

See the full advisory at the OIG website.

Conn Sentenced To 12 Years

Conn on the lam as seen on a security camera in New Mexico

     Eric Conn has been given a 12 year sentence for defrauding Social Security. Once he's caught, he'll get addition time for having fled. He's going to be an old man by the time he gets out of prison, if he gets out alive. What I hear from criminal attorneys is that he'll end up doing a lot of that time in a federal super max prison and that's a real bad place to be doing time.