A Kentucky disability attorney who stole $600 million from the federal government has disappeared, the FBI said.
Eric Conn pleaded guilty in March to stealing from the federal government and bribing a judge. He was ordered to pay back tens of millions of dollars. His sentencing was scheduled for next month.
The FBI said Saturday that Conn violated the conditions of his bond by removing his electronic monitoring device which prompted the U.S. District Court to issue a warrant for his arrest.
General counsel for the FBI’s Louisville office, David Habich, said that Conn’s “whereabouts are currently unknown.”
Conn started his practice in 1993 and has since built one of the most lucrative disability firms in the country. Known as “Mr. Social Security,” Conn built a persona for himself using outlandish TV commercials.
But Conn's empire crumbled when federal investigators uncovered he had been bribing a doctor and a judge to approve disability claims based on fake medical evidence. As part of his plea deal in March, he agreed to pay the federal government $5.7 million and to reimburse Social Security $46 million. A federal judge ordered Conn to pay $12 million in damages and $19 million in penalties to the government and two former Social Security employees who tried to expose the scheme. And Conn is also facing a liability judgment from a class action lawsuit brought by his former clients, with a hearing scheduled for later this month to determine the damages.
The scandal prompted the federal government to review the eligibility of about 1,500 people receiving benefits, more than half of the people lost their benefits as a result.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
candidly1 on June 4th, 2017 at 15:22 UTC »
But but but; we took his passport, too!
Like with an extra $83M he couldn't just buy a fucking jet and fly somewhere with no extradition. Or a yacht, for that matter.
Fucking geniuses.
Luxpreliator on June 4th, 2017 at 14:20 UTC »
Did he personally get $600,000,000 in his pocket or does that include the fraudulent distributions he gave to his clients? I can't believe he actually got paid that much so I went digging for more information.
article , article2 from Kentucky newspaper.
Up to 12 years in prison. Order to pay $83.2mil - $5.7mil repay fraud earnings; $46.5mil to social security; $31mil to the two whistleblowers.
He was paid $23mil for his services from 8/2005 - 9/2015. Paid miss Kentucky 2011 $70,000 a year for public relations. Paid a judge $8,000-$14,000 a month to rubber stamp claims, somewhere north of $600,000.
Had all his claims been left alone the government would have had to pay out over $550mil. $46.5mil of which were already paid out. The guy didn't get $600 million dollars to play with but he was still getting like $2 million a year.
YossarianVonPianosa on June 4th, 2017 at 11:26 UTC »
I like the fact that the attorney's last name was Conn.