FLOYD COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18)– After a meeting in Floyd County, some of Eric C. Conn’s former clients have a better idea of what it may take to get their social security benefits back.
For many of Conn’s former clients, it has been a long four years without benefits. On Tuesday, attorneys invited anyone involved to come to Prestonsburg to learn where their cases stand. More than 50 people showed up to hear from attorneys and ask questions.
The 50 who were in attendance is a small fraction of the estimated 800 or so people whose benefits are still being denied by the Social Security Administration. They’re being denied because their former attorney, Conn, was convicted of bribing judges and doctors in a 500 million dollar Social Security Fraud scheme.
On Friday, a federal appeals court denied a request by the SSA to rehear a November ruling that was favorable to Conn’s former clients. Then Sunday night, attorneys filed a federal class action suit to ask a judge to grant relief to the hundreds waiting on their benefits.
Some of the former clients told LEX 18 that they’ve sacrificed food and electricity over the past few years without their benefits.
“People don’t realize what we’ve went through. I have went with no lights, barely no food, and I had to let my car insurance go. I had to drive it illegally. It’s just rediculous,” said Conn’s former client Douglas Maynard.
Attorneys say that there have been former clients of Conn’s who have even died by suicide.
In November, attorneys sent a letter to Congressman Hal Rogers, asking him to intervene in the case.
On Tuesday, Rogers released the following statement to LEX 18: “It is disheartening that Eric Conn’s heartless criminality continues to impact families and individuals in our region, but I am inspired by the tenacity of his victims and the pro-bono attorneys who are fighting so hard for justice in the courts. Their hard work is paying off with marked success, most recently in the Sixth Circuit. I have requested a briefing directly from the Social Security Administration and I will continue to advocate for all of the victims in this matter.”
