Free Republic

Social Security beneficiaries snared in the largest disability scam in U.S. history won a reprieve last week when the government said it will put off decisions on revoking their benefits until the new year. The reversal by the Social Security Administration comes after the federal government finally took possession of and named receivers for thousands of case files from Eric C. Conn, the lawyer who orchestrated the disability-fraud ring. The files, which had been sitting in Conn’s law office for years, contain evidence that might help the beneficiaries prove they were entitled to benefits the government is now trying to...

The Social Security judge who rubber-stamped more than 1,700 bogus disability applications as part of the largest disability fraud ring in American history was sentenced to four years in federal prison Friday. David B. Daugherty left the Kentucky courtroom in handcuffs after Judge Danny C. Reeves rejected the government’s recommendation of a year in home confinement, and instead gave him the maximum time allowed on the charges he pled guilty to. The judge also ordered Daugherty to pay $93 million in restitution to the government, according to witnesses in the courtroom. Daugherty was part of the disability fraud ring orchestrated...