Eric Conn's $550 million Social Security disability fraud scheme
From October 2004 to April 2016, Kentucky disability attorney Eric Christopher Conn worked with former Social Security administrative law judge David B. Daugherty and several doctors, including clinical psychologist Alfred Bradley Adkins, to submit thousands of falsified medical documents in support of disability claims. Conn paid Daugherty about $10,000 a month in cash from December 2004 through April 2011 to approve benefits for claimants Conn represented, obligating the Social Security Administration to pay more than $550 million in lifetime benefits. Conn pleaded guilty in March 2017 to theft of government money and payment of gratuities, then fled the country rather than appear for sentencing, cutting off his ankle monitor and crossing into Mexico with help from Curtis Lee Wyatt. He was sentenced in absentia in July 2017 to 12 years and over $106 million in restitution, captured by Honduran authorities and returned to the US in December 2017, then convicted in June 2018 of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to escape, and conspiracy to retaliate against an informant who had reported the scheme. In September 2018 he received a consecutive 15-year sentence and was ordered to pay $72,574,609 in restitution, for a combined 27 years in prison.
- Year
- 2018
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Reported loss
- $550.0 million
- Victims
- 1,700
- Schemes
- Social Security disability fraud mill
- Last reviewed
- 2026-10-22
The facts, as recorded
- Eric Christopher Conn, of Pikeville, Kentucky, ran a Floyd County law firm that spent over 20 years mainly handling Social Security disability claims.
- From October 2004 to April 6, 2016, Conn worked with former SSA administrative law judge David B. Daugherty, clinical psychologist Alfred Bradley Adkins and other doctors to submit thousands of falsified medical documents to the SSA.
- Conn paid Daugherty about $10,000 a month in cash from December 2004 through April 2011; Daugherty, in turn, issued decisions granting benefits in more than 1,700 of Conn's claimants' cases.
- The scheme obligated the Social Security Administration to pay over $550 million in lifetime disability benefits, and Conn separately received more than $5.7 million in representative fees from the SSA tied to these claims.
- Conn pleaded guilty on March 24, 2017, to one count of theft of government money and one count of payment of gratuities.
- Conn fled federal custody on June 2, 2017, cutting off his ankle monitor and crossing the border into Mexico with the help of Curtis Lee Wyatt, and was not present for his own sentencing.
- On July 14, 2017, US District Judge Danny C. Reeves of the Eastern District of Kentucky sentenced Conn in absentia to 12 years in prison and ordered restitution of more than $106 million to the SSA and HHS.
- Conn was apprehended by Honduran authorities and returned to the United States on December 5, 2017.
- After a former SSA employee gave federal agents information about the scheme, Conn and former ALJ Charlie Paul Andrus worked to have that employee fired to discredit them.
- Conn was convicted on June 4, 2018, of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to escape, and conspiracy to retaliate against an informant.
- On September 7, 2018, Judge Reeves sentenced Conn to an additional 15 years, to run consecutive to his earlier 12-year term, for a combined 27 years, and ordered $72,574,609 in restitution.
- Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski said Conn "tried to escape justice by fleeing to Honduras"; SSA-OIG Special Agent in Charge Michael McGill said Conn "directed a scheme that defrauded millions of dollars from Social Security."
Why this case matters
This is the largest fraud scheme ever charged against the Social Security program, and the architect is the only person in it who fled the country rather than face sentencing. The case shows the scheme from the top: the attorney who recruited the claimants, paid the judge, and paid the doctors, all while collecting a legitimate-looking fee from the same federal agency he was defrauding.
A fee that looked exactly like an honest one
Conn’s own cut, more than $5.7 million in Social Security representative fees, was not itself illegal. Attorneys who win disability claims are entitled to a capped fee paid directly by the SSA. What made it fraudulent was what sat underneath it: Conn was being paid the ordinary, lawful fee for cases he had made certain would be approved no matter what the medical evidence actually showed.
Escape added years, not excuses
Fleeing changed nothing about the underlying fraud; it added an entirely separate set of crimes, conspiracy to escape and conspiracy to retaliate against the informant whose tip helped expose the scheme, that nearly matched his original sentence in length. The 15 years for the escape and retaliation convictions is almost as long as the 12 years for the fraud itself.
The caveat
Conn pleaded guilty to the original fraud charges and was later convicted by the outcomes described above of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to escape and conspiracy to retaliate against an informant; both sentences are final. The facts above come from the Justice Department’s own account of his plea, his conviction and the evidence presented at sentencing, not from an unresolved accusation.
People named in the public record
- Eric Conn · convicted
Sources
- Social Security Disability Lawyer Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison for Role in More Than $550 Million Social Security Fraud Scheme. US Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs (via SSA Office of Inspector General reproduction). Accessed 2026-10-22. Supports: Conn's age, location, the October 2004 to April 2016 scheme period, the $10,000-a-month cash payments to Daugherty from December 2004 through April 2011, the more than 1,700 approved cases, the $550 million lifetime-benefit obligation, Conn's $5.7 million in SSA representative fees, his March 24, 2017 guilty plea, his June 2, 2017 flight from custody, and his July 14, 2017 in-absentia sentence of 12 years and $106 million restitution.
- Fugitive Lawyer Involved in Largest Social Security Fraud Scheme Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for His Escape and Related Crimes. US Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs (via SSA Office of Inspector General reproduction). Accessed 2026-10-22. Supports: Conn's capture in Honduras and December 5, 2017 return to the US, the retaliation scheme against a cooperating former SSA employee, his June 4, 2018 conviction on conspiracy to defraud the US, conspiracy to escape and conspiracy to retaliate, his September 7, 2018 sentence of 15 years consecutive (27 years combined) and $72,574,609 restitution, and the Benczkowski and McGill quotes.