Disbarred Kentucky disability attorney Eric Conn sentenced to 15 years

Sept. 07--Barring a reprieve, former Eastern Kentucky disability attorney Eric C. Conn will spend at least the next 22 years in prison.

U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves sentenced Conn, 57, on Friday for his role in a scheme to defraud the Social Security Administration on a staggering scale.

Reeves said Conn is an intelligent man who enjoyed the benefits of a successful law practice, but went off the rails in a bribery scheme involving a Social Security Administration judge.

"A wrong path was taken, and it's very unfortunate," Reeves said.

Conn, who lived in Pikeville, was once of the most prolific Social Security disability lawyers in the nation, handling successful benefits claims for thousands of people, many of them in Eastern Kentucky.

The government paid Conn's firm $23 million in fees between 2005 and 2015, an FBI agent testified at one point.

Conn admitted last year, however, that he used fraudulent evidence in clients' claims and paid kickbacks totaling more than $600,000 to David B. Daugherty, a Social Security judge who issued blanket approvals for Conn's clients for years.

Conn, restrained by handcuffs and an ankle chain during the hearing, apologized to a range of people, including his ex-wife and daughter; the court and the FBI; two former Social Security employees who tried to bring attention to the wrongdoing; and to his former clients.

Hundreds of those clients lost benefits as a result of his case, and more still could.

"I've made a lot of mistakes," Conn said. "I know an apology can't right the wrongs that I've done, but it's a pretty good place to start."

The prosecutor, Dustin Davis, said Conn's remorse came only after a laundry list of wrongdoing, including using fake evidence in clients' claims, bribing a judge and destroying documents and computers to try to hide the crimes.

"He is simply not worthy of belief," Davis said during the hearing. "He has zero integrity."

Conn initially pleaded guilty last year in a deal that carried a 12-year sentence.

Before the sentencing hearing, however, Conn fled the country. He ultimately ended up in Honduras, where police caught him in December after six months on the run.

Conn pleaded guilty in June to three more charges: conspiracy to defraud the Social Security Administration; conspiracy to escape; and conspiracy to retaliate against a witness.

That plea deal called for Conn to be sentenced to the maximum term of five years on each count, for a total of 15 years.

That was to be added to Conn's initial 12-year sentence, for a total of 27 years.

Reeves imposed the additional 15 years on Friday.

There is no parole in the federal court system, but inmates can cut their sentences by up to 15 percent for good conduct.

If Conn receives all that credit, it would reduce his sentence to 23 years. He has served about 10 months of that because he's been in jail since December.

That would leave him with just over 22 years to serve, barring a change in federal sentencing rules or a request by federal prosecutors to reduce Conn's sentence.

One way for defendants to try to earn such a request is to give authorities information about alleged wrongdoing by others.

Conn claimed to the Herald-Leader earlier this year that he had such information about people who had not yet been charged.

Sarah Carver, one of the people who tried to blow the whistle on Conn and Daugherty, said in court Friday that Conn couldn't have carried out the scheme without help from others in the agency.

She listed more than half a dozen people who allegedly were involved.

"I don't feel like this will ever be over" until others are held accountable, she said.

Several others have been convicted in the case.

Daugherty pleaded guilty as part of a deal for a four-year sentence, and Reeves sentenced Alfred Bradley Adkins, a psychologist convicted of signing fraudulent forms for Conn with little scrutiny, to 25 years in prison.

Two others were convicted in connection with Conn as well -- Charlie Paul Andrus, a one-time Social Security judge who worked with Conn to try to discredit Carver, and Curtis Lee Wyatt, a former employee of Conn's who helped him escape.

The scheme involving Conn and others would have obligated Social Security to pay more than $600 million over the life of the beneficiaries, federal officials have said.

Reeves said it was his understanding that it was the biggest fraud in the history of Social Security.

The agency actually paid out $72.5 million on the claims before the fraud came to light. Reeves ordered Conn to pay that in restitution.

Conn knows his fate now, but hundreds of his former clients don't know yet whether his fraud will cost them their benefits.

When the Social Security Administration has reason to think fraud was involved in awarding benefits, it re-determines whether the beneficiary is eligible.

The agency initially moved to re-determine the eligibility of 1,800 of Conn's former clients, and recently began the process of holding hearings for another 1,965.

The percentage of people receiving disability payments in Eastern Kentucky is well above the national level. The prospect of losing benefits hit hard in the area.

At least three people killed themselves out of concern over losing their disability payments, said Ned Pillersdorf, a Prestonsburg attorney who has represented former Conn clients in efforts to retain benefits.

Some people have lost their homes, Pillersdorf said, and others have described to the Herald-Leader having to sell belongings to stay afloat.

In the first round of 1,800 former Conn clients who faced new eligibility decisions, Social Security kept benefits in place for about 250 without a hearing, according to the office of Republican U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, who represents Eastern Kentucky.

Of the other 1,500, nearly 800 lost their benefits. Many have appealed or re-applied for benefits, but the Conn saga has caused hardships, Pillersdorf said.

"The humanitarian crisis is as bad as it's ever been," Pillersdorf said.

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