The fraudster who tried to bilk the federal government out of more than $500 million worth of bogus Social Security disability applications is still believed to be in the U.S., the FBI said Friday, issuing a wanted poster with new details about the case.
Eric C. Conn, who dubbed himself “Mr. Social Security” for his ability to win disability payments for clients, removed his ankle bracelet along an interstate in Kentucky earlier this month and disappeared, just days before he was supposed to testify in a trial against one of his co-conspirators in the scheme.
His GPS ankle bracelet was found in a backpack on I-75 in Lexington, Kentucky, near Exit 115, according to the wanted poster.
Conn had previously bragged of being poised to flee the country, and had made numerous trips abroad over the years, but the FBI says it believes he’s still in the U.S.
The FBI is offering a $20,000 reward for his arrest. Anyone with information is asked to call the Louisville FBI office at 502-263-6000.
Conn pleaded guilty earlier this year to helping orchestrate the disability fraud.
He admitted to having arranged for more than 1,700 clients to submit bogus applications to the Social Security Administration, totaling about $550 million in lifetime benefits that would have been paid out.
Conn arranged for doctors to rubber-stamp medical and psychological evaluations, and paid off a Social Security administrative law judge to approve the applications.
The judge has also pleaded guilty. A psychologist Conn said he used in the case, Alfred Bradley Adkins, went on trial this week, with the case continuing into next week.
Conn was supposed to be a witness against Mr. Adkins.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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