A judge, doctors, and a lawyer nicknamed “Mr. Social Security” are allegedly behind what the Washington Times referred to as one of the largest Social Security frauds in history, according to a federal indictment that was unsealed on Tuesday.
According to the indictment, a federal grand jury found probable cause to believe that Mr. Social Security, a lawyer whose real name is Eric C. Conn, conspired alongside Dr. Alfred Bradley Adkins and Social Security Administration appeals judge David B. Daugherty to defraud the U.S. federal government’s disability benefits programs.
In order to pull off the massive fraud, which the federal government believes to have bilked the benefits program for over $600 million, the lawyer allegedly falsified medical documents with the intent of making it look like his clients were disabled. Allegedly, he then paid doctors anywhere from $300 to $450 each in order to put their signatures on completed evaluations that supported the falsified medical documents he had created. Once the applications for disability reached the Social Security Administration, the judge involved would allegedly spot them as they came in, snag them and then approve them. In return, the judge allegedly received a payment from the lawyer for $9,000 to $9,500 a month, all according to the federal indictment against the alleged fraud ring.
Former U.S. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) was quoted by the Lexington Herald-Leader as having said that he hopes “these guys rot in jail for stealing money we didn’t have on behalf of people who weren’t really proven to be disabled”.
I’m excited about this. I hope these guys rot in jail for stealing money we didn’t have on behalf of people who weren’t really proven to be disabled
Sen. Coburn, the man at the helm of the congressional investigation that exposed the ring of alleged criminals, credited whistleblowers for the new indictments.
Coburn told The Washington Times that the new indictments “came about through great investigative work and great courage by Social Security and lawyer employees who actually were willing to risk their jobs to do what’s right for the country”.
This came about through great investigative work and great courage by Social Security and lawyer employees who actually were willing to risk their jobs to do what’s right for the country
Investigators previously accused Kentucky lawyer Mr. Conn of having shredded 26,000 pounds of documents in an attempt to hide his illicit activities from their investigation.