KENTUCKY
A federal jury in Lexington, Kentucky, Monday convicted a clinical psychologist for his role in a Social Security disability fraud scheme that included a former Social Security administrative law judge.
It also involved the submission of thousands of falsified medical documents, according to prosecutors.
Social Security paid more than $600 million in claims, according to officials.
“Today’s jury verdict holds accountable the final defendant for his role in the largest scheme to defraud the Social Security Administration in its history,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Blanco. “Each defendant abused the trust placed in him as a professional for personal gain. We thank our law enforcement partners for their years-long investigation and commitment to this case.”
After a one-week trial in federal court in Lexington, the jury convicted Alfred Bradley Adkins, 45, of Shelbiana, Kentucky, of one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, one count of mail fraud, one count of wire fraud, and one count of making false statements.
Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 22.
According to evidence presented at trial, Adkins conspired with former Social Security administrative law judge David Black Daugherty and former Kentucky lawyer Eric Christopher Conn to defraud the federal government.
Adkins submitted false and fraudulent medical documentation to the Social Security.
Daugherty awarded disability benefits based on the same, in order to have the Social Security pay claimants’ retroactive disability benefits, continue to pay claimants’ disability benefits in the future, award Medicare and Medicaid benefits to claimants, and pay Conn’s attorney fees (enabling him to pay Adkins), the evidence showed.
The trial evidence demonstrated that the conspirators’ actions obligated the Social Security to pay more than $600 million in disability benefits in more than 2,000 cases to claimants in Kentucky and elsewhere, irrespective of the claimants’ actual entitlement to benefits.
During the nearly eight-year scheme, Conn received more than $7.5 million of taxpayer dollars in attorney’s fees, and paid more than $600,000 to Daugherty, and about $200,000 to Adkins, the evidence showed.
According to the trial evidence, Adkins performed perfunctory evaluations of claimants referred to him by Conn and used boilerplate reports to detail conditions to support disability findings.
Additionally, the trial evidence showed that Adkins, at Conn’s request, altered his findings on certain reports and ultimately signed forms prepared by Conn purporting to show that claimants qualified for disability benefits, whether or not they did.
Conn then submitted these artificially disabling reports and falsified forms to Daugherty and other administrative law judges in support of disability determinations.
Conn plead guilty on March 24, to a two-count information charging him with theft of government money and payment of illegal gratuities.
Daugherty pleaded guilty on May 12, to a two-count information charging him with receipt of illegal gratuities.
Both Conn and Daugherty are awaiting sentencing.
*The SSA-OIG, FBI, IRS-CI and HHS-OIG investigated the case.
Trial Attorney Dustin M. Davis of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Trial Attorney Elizabeth G. Wright of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section are prosecuting the case, with previous co-counsel including Assistant U.S. Attorney Trey Alford of the Western District of Missouri and Investigative Counsel Kristen M. Warden of the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General.