From ‘porn stars and voodoo dolls’ to prison: Catch up on the Eric Conn case
If you’re looking for a new show to unwind to, a true-crime docuseries about “Mr. Social Security,” convicted and disbarred eastern Kentucky disability lawyer Eric Conn, launches Friday.
The four-part documentary series is being released on Apple TV+ May 6.
An accompanying podcast “that will explore Conn’s con and outrageous lifestyle further with additional interviews and behind-the-scenes details” will be released on Apple Podcasts the same day, Apple announced.
The trailer for the docuseries hypes Conn’s larger-than-life persona, with “porn stars and voodoo dolls and Rolls-Royces and flashy suits and brothels” and promises to tell “a true story too real to believe.”
As Apple TV+ series premieres, Eric Conn’s chaos isn’t over for his former clients
Our readers might find the storyline familiar, however, as the Herald-Leader has followed this story from the beginning, and we’ve compiled a timeline to bring you up to speed on the case.
Who is Eric Conn?
Conn, 61, of Pikeville, represented thousands of individuals who were seeking disability benefits from the mid-1990s until he was indicted in 2016. His scheme to submit fabricated evidence and pay off a judge has been called the largest fraud in Social Security’s history.
The government would have been obligated to pay $550 million in benefits to Conn’s clients if the scam had not been uncovered.
Hundreds of Conn’s former clients lost their benefits, though their attorneys have argued there’s no evidence they knew of Conn’s fraudulent practices, and they are still trying to get the benefits reinstated.
Conn’s Con
Conn opened his office in 1993 after service in the U.S. Army and ultimately began specializing in representing people seeking disability payments. From 2005 to 2015 Conn’s firm received $23 million in fees from Social Security, an FBI agent testified in April 2016.
Conn was no stranger to controversy. In 2002, he gave up his right to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims in the wake of an investigation into professional misconduct.
In September 2013, Conn pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge that he tried to give a campaign donation to a state Supreme Court candidate in someone else’s name. He had originally faced felony charges in the case.
And in October 2013, a Senate panel released a report following a lengthy investigation that concluded Conn had colluded with a Social Security judge to defraud the system.
It took awhile for federal charges to land, but on April 5, 2016 a federal indictment against Conn was unsealed. It also included charges against Bradley Adkins, a psychologist who signed forms that affirmed people were disabled — without doing real examinations — and David B. Daugherty, a former Social Security judge who approved claims for Conn’s clients in return for more than $600,000 in kickbacks.
In March 2017, Conn pleaded guilty to federal charges of stealing from Social Security and paying bribes to Daugherty, but his story doesn’t end there.
The great escape
While awaiting sentencing, Conn cut off his ankle monitor June 2, 2017, and vanished after meeting in Lexington with his attorney and federal prosecutors.
His escape ignited an FBI manhunt that last months and crossed international borders.
Conn captured
Apprehended at a Pizza Hut in Honduras in Dec. 2, 2017, six months after his escape, Conn was returned to the United States.
In early January 2018, he sent a 42-page letter to the Herald-Leader from behind bars in which he provided details about what he did while on the lam and claimed he decided to flee because of fear of being assaulted in prison.
He pleaded guilty in June 2018 to additional charges of conspiracy to defraud the Social Security Administration, conspiracy to escape and conspiracy to retaliate against a witness. Those charges added an additional 15 years to his sentence, for a total of 27 years.
He will have to serve at least 85% of that.
Additionally, he was ordered to pay more than $80 million to the government and whistleblowers, including repaying $72.5 million in claims the government had paid before the fraud was uncovered.
Where is Eric Conn now? What about co-conspirators?
Conn is incarcerated in Ashland, according to the Bureau of Prisons.
The psychologist, Adkins, and Social Security judge, Daugherty, associated with Conn’s case were also convicted, along with a former employee of Conn’s, Curtis Wyatt, who admitted helping him escape.
A second Social Security judge, Charlie Paul Andrus, also was sentenced to jail time for retaliating against a whistleblower in Conn’s case.
Pizza Hut, then handcuffs. Police catch Eric Conn at restaurant in Honduras.
Well-known disability lawyer Eric Conn pleads guilty in federal fraud case
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