Scam targets clients of fugitive lawyer awaiting sentencing in $550M disability fraud scheme
Eric Conn/FBI
Former clients of fugitive Kentucky lawyer Eric Conn are being targeted in a scam.
The former clients are being told they are entitled to $9,000 from a special “Eric Conn compensation fund,” but they have to send $200 to receive the money, report television stations LEX18, and WKYT in Kentucky, and KSAZ in West Virginia. Conn fled while awaiting sentencing for participating in a $550 million disability fraud scheme.
A lawyer for the former clients, Ned Pillersdorf, posted a warning about the scam on his Facebook page. The former clients believe the scammers’ calls are real because they believe their identity is not public knowledge.
“They are told there’s a $9,000 compensation fund,” Pillersdorf said WKYT. “They are asked to send $200 to the federal reserve bank of New York. Many of them foolishly fell for this and they are told if they continue to send money they will get $10,000 or $11,000.”
Pillersdorf told WKYT he believes the scammers are getting information about his clients from his Facebook page, where he posts updates about his class action against Conn. The scammers may have also gleaned information by going online to access the names of people who have pending federal cases against the Social Security Administration, Pillersdorf said in a Facebook update.
Pillersdorf told his Facebook followers to contact anyone who may have been targeted to warn them. “What you may find is that they are totally convinced they will soon be getting $9,000,” he wrote. “I had some unbelievable conversations with those who were targeted in which I ended up standing up and shouting at them that it was all a scam. Hope they understood me.”
Conn fled on June 2 after removing his ankle bracelet. He later sent emails to his lawyer and the a newspaper dictating the terms of his surrender. One of the terms is that he not be charged with additional crimes for fleeing. He also wants the FBI to tell the public that he feels it is unfair that two Social Security judges convicted in connection with the case are getting a combined sentence that is lower than his potential sentence of 12 years in prison.
Conn had pleaded guilty to allegations he submitted false medical documents and bribed an administrative law judge. The scheme obligated the government to pay more than $550 million in lifetime disability payments, prosecutors said.
Conn is on the FBI’s Most Wanted List for white-collar crimes, and a $20,000 reward is still being offered for information leading to his arrest.
