DISABILITY ATTORNEY WHO BILKED $600M FROM GOV'T DISAPPEARS
BY ADAM BEAM
ASSOCIATED PRESS
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) -- An eastern Kentucky disability lawyer scheduled to be sentenced next month for defrauding the government of nearly $600 million has disappeared, the FBI said.
Eric Conn pleaded guilty in March to stealing from the federal government and bribing a judge. He was scheduled to be sentenced next month and had been ordered to pay the government tens of millions of dollars.
But Saturday, the FBI said Conn removed his electronic monitoring device, violating the conditions of his bond and prompting the U.S. District Court to issue a warrant for his arrest. David Habich, general counsel for the FBI's Louisville office, said Conn's "whereabouts are currently unknown."
A call to Conn's lawyer was not returned.
Conn started his law practice in a trailer in 1993 and built it into one of the most lucrative disability law firms in the country. He created a persona for himself as "Mr. Social Security," fueled by outlandish TV commercials and small-scale replicas of the Statute of Liberty and the Lincoln Memorial at his office in rural eastern Kentucky.
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.
"It was totally predictable that he would flee," said attorney Ned Pillersdorf, who represents Conn's former clients and said Conn's frequent world traveling was brought up in court to assess whether he was a flight risk. "I was always shocked that, when he was arrested, he was actually allowed out on bond. And there has been a betting pool going on in Prestonsburg on not if he would flee, but when."
The scandal prompted the federal government to review the eligibility of about 1,500 people receiving benefits. Pillersdorf said about 800 of those people lost their benefits.
"The anger toward him is overwhelming," Pillersdorf said.
His main Stanville office is a bunch of mobile homes smashed together, complete with a statue of liberty and a Lincoln memorial replica
"If scientists and inventors who develop disease cures and useful technologies don't get lifetime royalties, I'd like to know what fucking rationale you have for some guy getting lifetime royalties for writing an episode of Full House." - Mike Wong
"The present air situation in the Pacific is entirely the result of fighting a fifth rate air power." - U.S. Navy Memo - 24 July 1944
Trusting a guy named Conn with to take care of your legal matters is like trusting a guy named Madoff to take care of your money.
どうして？お前が夜に自身お触れるから。 Long ago in a distant land, I, Aku, the shape-shifting Master of Darkness, unleashed an unspeakable evil,
but a foolish samurai warrior wielding a magic sword stepped forth to oppose me. Before the final blow
was struck, I tore open a portal in time and flung him into the future, where my evil is law! Now, the fool
seeks to return to the past, and undo the future that is Aku...
-Aku, Master of Masters, Deliverer of Darkness, Shogun of Sorrow
Well, he looks more like a Jamba Juice kind of fella rather than a Cinnabon manager, just saying.
Seriously though, I wonder what he did with his share of the loot? Certainly doesn't look like he spent much of it on himself, at least judging by his office.
Turns out that a five way cross over between It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the Ali G Show, Fargo, Idiocracy and Veep is a lot less funny when you're actually living in it.
Pelranius wrote:Well, he looks more like a Jamba Juice kind of fella rather than a Cinnabon manager, just saying.
Seriously though, I wonder what he did with his share of the loot? Certainly doesn't look like he spent much of it on himself, at least judging by his office.
it wouldn't surprice me if he could afford better office but didn't want to for image related reasons. That said I suspect bribging a judge and a doctor isn't cheap.
I may be an idiot, but I'm a tolerated idiot
"I think you completely missed the point of sigs. They're supposed to be completely homegrown in the fertile hydroponics lab of your mind, dried in your closet, rolled, and smoked...
Oh wait, that's marijuana..."Einhander Sn0m4n
He also may be a guy who likes to have his money rather than spend it. Another classic Breaking Bad reference, like Walter White continuing his enterprise long after he had more money than he would ever want to spend on himself. The sack of money becomes a status thing, a score card he can pull out to congratulate himself on how much more smart and better than everyone else you are.
Really sucks for the people who are disabled who relied on this bastard to get them help. Being disabled is no picnic and trying to convince the government that they are is a long and stressful process that can badly effect someone already in not the best mental or physical shape.
The fact shitbags and far more honest lawyers get can rich assisting people shows the labyrinthine mess those disabled have to jump through to get help. Its no wonder some disabled people wind up on the street or worse because they couldn't jump through all the hoops. Might even be harder now if this assholes actions become more widely known, some people might be afraid to get a disability lawyer for fear they are going to wind up off benefits because the fuckstain did illegal shit.
Anyone who takes advantage of the disabled is pure scum.
