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Business Crimes Hotline
KENTUCKY
Psychologist, Judge and Attorney Convicted in Scheme to Defraud the Social Security Administration
After deliberating for three hours, a federal jury in Lexington, KY, convicted the last defendant in what is being called the largest Social Security disability fraud scheme. Clinical psychologist Alfred Bradley Adkins was found guilty for conspiring with disability lawyer Eric Christopher Conn, and former Social Security Administration (SSA) administrative law judge David Black Daugherty in a scheme that obligated the SSA to pay over $600 million in disability benefits. The plot to defraud the SSA involved over 2,000 cases brought by claimants in Kentucky and throughout the U.S. seeking disability benefits. The week-long trial concluded on June 12 with the jury finding Adkins guilty of conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud and making false statements.
According to evidence, the former administrative law judge sought out Conn's cases and asked Conn to submit false medical certification beginning in 2004. Conn then recruited Adkins to meet with claimants and sign off on evaluations that had been pre-written by Conn and his staff. Adkins repeatedly altered patients' reports to support disability findings, and submitted fraudulent medical documents to the SSA in order to have the SSA continue paying disability benefits, award Medicare and Medicaid payment benefits, and Conn's attorney fees. Evidence showed that Adkins even signed mental-impairment evaluations for patients he had never seen. During the eight-year scheme, Conn received over $7.5 million in attorney fees. Conn shared $200,000 of those fees with Adkins and $600,000 with Daugherty for their respective roles.
Both the administrative law judge and the disability lawyer have already been indicted for their participation in the scheme. Conn pleaded guilty on March 24, 2017, to theft of government money and payment of illegal gratuities. Daugherty pled guilty on May 12, 2017, to receipt of illegal gratuities. As part of Conn's plea arrangement, dozens of charges, including wire and mail fraud, conspiracy to retaliate against a witness, money laundering, and destroying evidence were dismissed. The plea arrangement calls for Conn to pay the government $5.7 million that he received through the scheme and $46.5 million in restitution to the SSA. Despite the arrangement, Conn may still face up to 12 years in prison.
On June 2, Conn cut off his ankle monitoring device and absconded from home detention after preparing with his attorney to testify in Adkins' trial. The fugitive attorney emailed the Lexington Herald-Leader and his attorney seven days later, saying he fled the country because he felt it was unfair that Daugherty and Adkins could receive a combined sentence less than his. Conn claimed he obtained a fake passport from a foreign national and fled to a country that does not have an extradition agreement with the U.S. His emails set forth the conditions under which he would surrender to the FBI, and the FBI has offered an award of $20,000 to anyone with information that could lead to Conn's arrest.
In the meantime, several of Conn's former clients have filed a class-action lawsuit against him after fighting to keep their disability checks.
— Halli Spraggins, Mayer Brown
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