Historic Social Security Cost Of Living Increase in 2023

                                                                      

 Social Security payments will increase by an average of more than $140 per month after the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced the largest cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) since the early 1980s.

The COLA will increase by 8.7 percent for 2023, the SSA confirmed on Oct. 13. But not all federal retirees will see that amount added to their checks. Those in the Federal Employee Retirement System will receive a 7.7 percent COLA starting in January.

While the announcement came Thursday, the increased payments won’t be distributed until January, according to the SSA.

The payment increase is also permanent, and it compounds. That means the following year’s percentage increase, whatever it ends up being, will be on top of the new, larger payment beneficiaries get after this most recent raise.

More than 65 million Social Security beneficiaries will get an increase. The average recipient will receive more than $140 extra a month beginning in January, according to estimates released by the SSA.

‘Not a Benefit Increase’

One analyst noted that the cost-of-living adjustment is merely designed to keep pace with year-over-year inflation. The consumer price index report released by the Department of Labor on Thursday showed September’s inflation rose 8.2 percent, staying at near 40-year highs.

“This is not a benefit increase, it’s an adjustment to keep pace with inflation, and of course prices are rising to very high levels right now,” Nancy Altman, the co-director of the nonprofit organization Social Security Works, told The Hill in an interview. “But the COLA is an extremely important feature, because without it benefits would erode over time.”

The announcement for a large increase in 2023 isn’t a surprise, according to Ken Thomas, national president of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, due to rising consumer prices and surging inflation.

“However, rising health care costs … could reduce the value of this adjustment,” Thomas said. “Seniors spend more on health care than any other segment of the population.”

“The COLA doesn’t take into account where you live or your actual spending patterns,” said William Arnone, CEO of the National Academy of Social Insurance. “For some people, it’s an overstatement of cost of living for, say, small towns in the Midwest versus urban areas like New York, D.C. or Chicago. With many older people choosing to live in suburban areas or rural areas, some will benefit more” than others from the same-sized increase.

Since 2000, it’s averaged 2.3 percent as inflation remained remarkably tame through all kinds of economic swings. During some of the toughest years in that stretch, the bigger worry for the economy was actually that inflation was running too low.

Since the 2008 financial crisis, the U.S. government has announced zero increases to Social Security benefits three times because inflation was so weak.

Last October, the SSA announced a 5.9 percent increase, which itself was the largest in about four decades.

This year’s bump, however, is the largest increase since the SSA in 1981 announced an 11.2 percent increase, which had followed a 14.3 percent boost in 1980, data shows.

Smaller Payouts

The expected increase means the Social Security system will pay out more money sooner, which can add more strain on its trust fund.

The annual Social Security and Medicare trustees report released in June says the program’s trust fund will be unable to pay full benefits beginning in 2035.

The latest annual trustees report for Social Security said its trust funds that pay out retirement and survivors and disability benefits will be able to pay scheduled benefits on a timely basis until 2035. After that, incoming cash from taxes will be enough to pay 80 percent of scheduled benefits.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

Jack Phillips

  Homosexual widower’s can now receive survivor benefits for Homosexual couples

Hundreds of older homosexual Americans shut out from Social Security benefits after the death of their spouses are set to gain access to them under a federal court decision.
Plaintiff Michael Ely can receive benefits as a widower even though his partner of more than 40 years, James Taylor, died of cancer just six months after they officially married, rather than the required nine months, according to a May 26 ruling in Arizona District Court.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Macdonald also certified Ely, 67, as representative of a class estimated at more than 400 Americans who got hitched after their states legalized same-sex marriage but later lost their spouses in fewer than nine months.
“If Mr. Ely and Mr. Taylor had been legally able to marry nine months prior to Mr. Taylor’s death this might be a different case; however, they were not,” Macdonald wrote. “The unconstitutional infringement on Mr. Ely and Mr. Taylor’s fundamental right to marriage is now being perpetuated further by the denial of Mr. Ely to obtain survivor’s benefits.”
The Social Security Administration (SSA) and Department of Justice (DOJ) could appeal the decision in the Ninth Circuit, which could also lead to a Supreme Court case. The highest court ruled same-sex marriage bans unconstitutional in 2015, but some widows and widowers still can’t get benefits.
Representatives for the two government agencies, as well as their counsel, did not respond to requests for comment.

The gap in benefits left some members of the class action case homeless following the death of his husband, according to homosexual civil rights advocacy group Lambda Legal — which filed Ely’s initial case against the Social Security Administration in November 2018.
“This is a tremendous victory for many surviving same-sex spouses nationwide who have been locked out of critical benefits because they were unlawfully barred from marriage for most of their relationships,” Lambda Legal Counsel Peter Renn said in a statement. “No one should be penalized for being the victim of discrimination.”
Ely and Taylor wed in November 2014, less than a month after the same federal court ruled Arizona’s ban unconstitutional. The Supreme Court upheld the decision while striking down the remaining bans nationwide in Obergefell v. Hodges.
Other putative class action members who could start receiving survivor benefits include lead plaintiff James Obergefell, who married in 2013 only months prior to his 45-year-old husband’s death from Lou Gehrig's disease. Obergefell and John Arthur had been together 20 years.
The estimated number of members came from an academic researcher’s comparison of death rates and probabilities against the number of people who entered same-sex marriages in 14 states still subject to bans until 2015. Macdonald called it a conservative estimate since it didn’t include potential cases from other states that legalized same-sex marriage earlier.
Ely and Taylor began living together in 1971, and they moved to Tucson in the early 1990s. They also held a commitment ceremony in 2007, more than 35 years after they began living together. Six years later, doctors diagnosed Taylor with cancer after finding multiple tumors.
"My late husband, who went by the nickname 'Spider,' was the love of my Life and we got married as soon as the law permitted,” Ely said in a statement. “My husband paid into social security with every paycheck, and I know he can rest easier now knowing that I, at last, will start receiving the same benefits as other widowers.”

 (Tobias Salinger, June 08, 2020)

SSA Firing Of Veteran Attorney Was Not Justified, Must Pay Court Costs For His Appeal

Military Veteran Attorney Challenges Termination By SSA

McGuffin v Social Security Administration (2017-2433 (11/7/19) involves a Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) challenge to termination of a military veteran. The court’s opinion contains detailed facts. Here are the key points.

McGuffin was hired by Social Security Administration (SSA) in Raleigh, North Carolina, in its Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (SSA/ODAR).
He was an attorney advisor and his duties entailed researching and drafting decisions that were then handed off to an SSA Administrative Law Judge (ALJ). Without re-hashing the complex rules applicable to his hiring, the key factor is that after serving one year he would, as a military veteran, attain civil service status subject to all the required adverse action procedures.
In contrast, a non-veteran coworker hired at the same time would serve a 2-year probationary period.  The facts demonstrate that agency officials were made well aware that they had one year to terminate McGuffin due to his veteran status. Facts also demonstrate that a few days before his year was up, the bosses rushed a decision to terminate McGuffin for “failure to demonstrate” the ability to do the job notwithstanding several compliments from some of the ALJs he wrote decisions for. 

McGuffin appealed to the Equal Employment Opportunity Center (EEOC) alleging disability discrimination. During the EEOC hearing, McGuffin elicited testimony from agency witnesses that there had been a rush to terminate his employment before he attained civil service status and that his military status was a factor since it meant he only faced a one-year probation period.  After his unsuccessful EEOC appeal, McGuffin took his case to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). There he argued that SSA had violated USERRA. The MSPB ruled against him, so he took his argument to the federal appeals court.
The court concluded that Mr. McGuffin had met his burden under USERRA. This meant that SSA had to prove it terminated McGuffin for a valid reason. Where the MSPB found that SSA proved it terminated because he was a poor performer who failed to show he met the requirements of “productivity, timeliness and quality after a year of training,” the court begged to differ, finding that the evidence does not support that conclusion. 

The court opined that the agency applied McGuffin to a higher standard than that it was supposed to apply during the first year, namely it held him to meeting his “fair share” of work on cases. In fact the bosses seemed “fixated” on McGuffin not being able to meet his fair share even though the personnel advisors cautioned them that this was an evaluation factor that was not applicable during the first year. In fact, McGuffin’s evaluation report a few months before his termination indicated that he had successfully performed in the two work requirements applicable during the first year on the job, as evidenced by several favorable comments from various ALJs that he supported. (p. 19)

The court has now reversed the MSPB, found that USERRA was violated, and remanded for the Board to determine an appropriate remedy. Moreover, the court ordered the government to pay Mr. McGuffin’s costs. 

SSA Defrauds Another Widow(er)

Social Security Defrauds Yet Another Widow(er) -This Could Be You!

Laurence Kotlikoff 

A bunch of American dollars in denominations of 100 dollars notes rolled up and held together with a simple rubber band with two stack of american dollars in denominations of 100 dollars isolated on a white background.Getty

Social Security just defrauded Seattle-based William Shimeall of tens of thousands of dollars in widower benefits based on a decision by Social Security's Administrative Law Judge Glenn G. Myers.

Bill's story is instructive. It teaches us a lesson we all should already know - You can't trust anything the Social Security staff tells you. Nor can you rely on them to keep you from doing something that can only lower, potentially dramatically, your future benefits.
It also teaches us a new lesson. Social Security's self-appointed "judges" aren't, apparently, sworn to uphold justice. Instead, they appear sworn to uphold Social Security's patently fraudulent decisions no matter the size of the swindle.
Here are the facts. Judge for yourself.
Bill Shimeall turned full retirement age on August 3, 2015. Around that time much was written, including by me and my co-authors in our book, Get What's Yours - the Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security, about the file and suspend option which let eligible disabled children and spouses collect child and spousal benefits without forcing the primary earner to file before age 70 and accept permanently reduced benefits.

Some high-earning spouses were also able to use this mechanism to collect spousal benefits while waiting to collect their own highest retirement benefit. People in the Obama Administration decided, with no hearings or actual evidence, that this was, on balance, a boondoggle for the rich. So in November 2015, the Democrats in the House let House Republicans rewrite the law and hide the changes inside the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015.
I saw a draft of the bill on a Sunday. The vote was scheduled for later that week. The next morning I posted a Forbes column pointing out that the new Social Security provisions would mean benefit cuts in six months for lots of people. Within a few hours of the appearance of the column, there were two highly complex amendments passed by Congress that included grandfathering clauses, some of which still pertain to millions of people, by the way.

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In any case, the new law with its complex amendments went into effect in November 2017. Then Social Security's headquarters sent misleading instructions to staff all around the country about the new  provisions. Through December, January and February of 2016, I kept getting emails from people saying they had read my columns, which said X, but that Social Security staff were saying not X. I started writing these mistakes up on a weekly basis hoping someone at Social Security was monitoring my columns and would fix things. Sure enough, in February 2016, senior staff at Social Security set up a conference call with me. During the call, I explained what the new law actually said and how it differed from what had been stated in the instructions. Within hours of the call, new instructions were issued. But the damage had been done. People continued to be misadvised by Social Security staff for months all over the country.
Bill appears to have been one of them. He went into his local Lynnwood Social Security office, located near Seattle, Washington, in early April 2016 to discuss filing and suspending his retirement benefit so his ailing wife could start collecting a spousal benefit while waiting for her disability benefit to be approved. Bill was under the impression that by going into the office and calling Social Security before the April 29, 2016 deadline he would be viewed as having met the deadline and be given more time to complete the paperwork. April 29th was the deadline for people who were grandfathered to file and suspend and have others collect benefits on their work records. We can still file and suspend. What we can't do, if we filed and suspended after April 29, 2016, is let others collect benefits on our records while our own retirement benefit is in suspension.
Bill spoke with several different people at the Lynwood Office that day and in the ensuing weeks. Each told him something different. In any case, in early May, Bill, thinking he was grandfathered because he had gone into the Lynwood Office to discuss filing and suspending before April 29th, proceeded to file and suspend.
Thereafter, Bill had lots of confusing back and fourths with the folks at the Lynwood office to find out why his wife's spousal benefits hadn't started. But by October, his wife had been granted disability benefits, so he stopped worrying about getting her spousal benefits.
In June 2017, Bill's wife died. Bill then applied for his widower's benefit believing a) he would receive his full widower's benefit of $944 a month and b) that he could wait until 70 to collect his own age-70 retirement benefit. Instead of receiving the $944, Bill was awarded $18 per month in widower's benefits. Why? Because he had filed for his retirement benefit back in May 2016. It didn't matter that his benefit was in suspension. Nor did it matter that his filing for and suspending his retirement benefit could never have helped his wife get spousal benefits under the new law.
No, Bill had filed for his retirement benefit, so Social Security treated him as if he were actually collecting his retirement benefit and since his retirement benefit exceeded his widowers benefit he was to receive the difference, if positive, between his widower and retirement benefit. I.e., he was to receive zero. The fact that Social Security decided he was owed $18 per month was another mistake.
Bill appealed the decision saying he had been mislead by Social Security when he filed and suspended. He hadn't been told that doing so could wipe out his potential widower benefit. Given his wife's physical condition, potentially losing his widower's benefit was a real possibility. But no one at the Lynnwood office told him this in either April or May. Indeed, in early May, before filing, he contacted a top Seattle financial planner, Julie Price, who warned him that he might endanger his potential widower benefit if he filed and suspended and that he should come see her. Bill didn't want to spend the money on outside advice, so went with what the Lynnwood staff were saying and weren't saying.
What the staff should have told Bill was, It's past the April 29, 2016 deadline. You and your wife have absolutely NOTHING to gain by your filing and suspending and potentially some $40,000 to LOSE in widowers benefits if she passes in the near term.
But the staff didn't tell Bill any of this. Instead they sat back and helped him shoot himself in the head by filing and suspending, whose sole impact, they knew or should have known, would only serve to eliminate his widower's benefit were his wife to die before he reached 70.
"Judge" Myers looked at the evidence and decided that Bill had, in fact, been warned about a possible widower's benefit issue by, get this, Julie Price and should have followed Julie's advice, not what the Lynnwood staff Social Security were and weren't saying. I.e., Bill, according to the "judge," should have followed the advice not of the Social Security professionals, but of a financial advisor whom Bill didn't know.
Based on Bill's "mistake" in relying on Social Security, he, not Social Security was at fault and he must suffer the consequences. This was the 'judge's" ruling.
The injustice here is staggering. Just think about this. Due to the Lynnwood's office's clear mistake (It should have refused to process Bill's request unless he signed a paper stating that filing could only hurt him financially.), the Judge Myers not only defrauded Bill. He also defrauded Bill's wife. She worked her entire life, paid Social Security taxes her entire life, only to have those taxes be confiscated by incompetent bureaucrats and a judge who seems not to understand the requirements of the word justice.
Bill is not alone in being defrauded by the Social Security system. Social Security's Inspector General's Report of (https://oig.ssa.gov/sites/default/files/audit/full/pdf/A-09-18-50559.pdf) of February 14, 2018 documents the routine failure of Social Security staff to provide proper guidance to actual, let alone near-term prospective widow(er)s).
I wrote about this report last year. And I wrote about the problem of Social Security's defrauding widow(er)s back in 2015 based on a courageous Social Security whistle blower's inside account. Social Security has the ability to go back and determine how much money they stole from people by letting them make filing decisions or making those filing decisions for them when such decisions could only work to their detriment. Once that determination is made, Social Security should provide restitution of such stolen benefits to participants or their survivors.
But back to Bill and "Judge" Myers. Any decent Social Security judge would conclude that if the staff assists someone in filing a claim that can only lower their benefits in the future and can never raise them, under any circumstance, that the staff has clearly made an error, to put it mildly. In this case, the judge should withdrawal the filing even if it's beyond the 12-month withdraw deadline, of which Bill was also not informed.
Judge Myers, it's time to reverse your decision and stand up for the millions of widows and widowers who have been terribly defrauded by Social Security staff, either knowingly or accidentally, over the years via staff-assisted or unilateral staff decisions that served only to financially injure actual or prospective widow(er)s.

Follow me @kotlikoff To safely raise your living standard and assess your investment risk, check out MaxiFi and my company. Pls pose Social Security questions at Ask Larry.

Laurence Kotlikoff Contributor

I am a professor of economics at Boston University, a Fellow of the American Academy, a Research Associate of the NBER, and President of Economic Security Planning, Inc. -- a company that markets personal financial planning tools at maxifi.com, maximizemysocialsecurity.com,...

Changes in Social Security 5-Step Disability Application Process 2019.

Changes in Social Security 5-Step Disability Application Process

 Administration has recently implemented changes to their Social Security Disability Income application process, including the reinstatement of the reconsideration step in the claim application process in five states, with Louisiana among them.

The SSA removed the reconsideration step from the claim application process in ten states in 1999, and is adding it back now as part of an effort to save money. Some filing for disability may benefit from reconsideration, but others will see longer delays in claim processing.
“What people basically need to know is that starting January 1, Louisiana applicants see a new step in the process of filing for SSDI,” said Mike Stein, assistant vice president of Operations Strategy and Planning with Allsup, an organization that helps claim applicants navigate the process.
“Reconsideration takes places after an initial application has been denied, which happens in two out of every three claims. For the 13 percent of people who get accepted after reconsideration, this step saves them time and saves the government money. The other 87 percent of applicants will continue to the appeal process, so reconsideration effectively adds three to six months processing time to their claim,” Stein said.
Part of FICA taxes workers pay each year funds SSDI benefits, as sort of a long term insurance program for workers who become injured beyond their ability to continue working.
“There are a lot of myths and misconceptions about the program,” Stein said. “People think it’s easy to get on and the government just gives away money, but it’s actually a very stringent program. It’s only open to people who have paid in through their taxes and have been injured in a serious and long term way. So, most of our clients are people who have been dealt some of the worst hands anyone can be dealt, from a medical standpoint.”
After a worker is injured and files a claim with the SSA, an initial determination is made after four to six months, with about 34 percent of claims approved on average. For nearly twenty years, Louisiana claimants moved from an initial rejection into an appeal process, held before a judge, with wait times that currently average around 450 days. Rejected claims filed after January 1 will now move into the reconsideration phase prior to an appeal process.
“Back in the late 90s, the SSA looked at the reality that only 13 percent of applications were accepted following reconsideration and decided to see if they could save money, or speed things up, by eliminating that step,” Stein said. “The Trump Administration now says it has research indicating it could result in a net savings to keep reconsideration.”
SSDI appeal hearings are expensive, requiring judges, vocational and medical experts and travel budgets.
“The Trump Administration says that 13 percent less appeal hearings could save money,” Stein said. “For the people who see their application granted during reconsideration, this will also save time. The vast majority of people will see additional time and paperwork as part of their SSDI claim process.”
There has been some controversy surrounding the introduction of the SSA’s new policy. During a congressional meeting of the House Ways and Means Committee last summer, several members objected to the reinstatement of the reconciliation process, and acting SSA commissioner Nancy Berryhill signed a letter along with eleven members of Congress arguing that “there is little evidence to show that reconsideration is a meaningful step in the disability appeals process.”
Despite some resistance to recent changes, the Trump Administration has nominated a new commissioner to head the agency – Andrew Saul – and plans to move forward.
“They have a roll out schedule in place and we can expect to see more changes in April and October, and well as early next year. These changes can make an already complex situation more confusing, and we just encourage people to hire someone knowledgeable to try and shorten what will already be a long time without income after an injury,” Stein said.
28th January 2019 
 

By Meghan Holmes
Contributing Writer
The Social Security

Social Security Judge Commits Suicide

A former friend of Judge Timothy Maher, a Social Security Judge who committed suicide when he shot himself with a rifle Aug. 24 after a prolonged standoff with police, is speaking out about events leading to the incident.

 

“I hope someone will investigate SSA culpability in this tragedy so it does not happen again,” he said.

“I am angry right now that a friend has needlessly died,But I am more angry at how the Social Security Administration mishandled this tragic situation.”

“He was a decent, honorable, good judge, who needed some help; so, I was very sorry and angry to see that he died,”

My anger is predominantly directed at the Social Security operation, which I feel ”is not a good model for a judicial system.”

“The SSA was putting more pressure on the ALJs to put out more cases to decrease the Backlog of Cases waiting to be heard. Back in 2014 the Backlog was over 900,000 cases.

It’s more than a million now."

Judge Maher and I were among an “overwhelming number” of SSA ALJ disability judges who weren’t able to retain staff because we were members of a union, the Association of Administrative Law Judges.(AALJ)

“In order to be a union member no one can work for you. It’s a very strange situation.”

                                        

In 2015, the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review, or ODAR, conducted an investigation into Judge Maher over allegations of harassment.

Maher was barred from the Miami Hearing Office and told to conduct all hearings from Fort Lauderdale for the duration of the investigation. The Office of Disability Adjudication and Review also allegedly instructed Fort Lauderdale staff not to speak to him.

Maher was arrested Aug. 14, it was after he allegedly pointed a rifle at his ex-girlfriend in her El Portal home when he came to pick up their 4-year-old son under a shared-custody arrangement.

A week later, Judge Maher held his in-laws hostage inside a house in Homestead, then ended his life.

He said the agency is home to a huge backlog of cases.

The Social Security Administration did not respond to requests for comment.

Social Security Administration Drops Bomb on Kentucky

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) – Another 1,965 people in eastern Kentucky could lose their federal Social Security Disability Benefits because of  disgraced Social Security  attorney, Eric Conn, who made millions by bribing Social Security Judge David Black Daugherty to approve disability cases for his clients without holding a Hearing..
The Social Security Administration (SSA) plans to notify nearly 2,000 people in eastern Kentucky that they will have to defend their status in court. All of them are former clients of  flamboyant attorney, Eric Conn, who billed himself as “Mr. Social Security” in television ads before his empire crumbled beneath the weight of a federal investigation. About half of those new cases involve Conn and a convicted former Social Security Administrative Law Judge David Daugherty.

The new cases were identified by the Social Security Office of the Inspector General in November. U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers’ office said notifications will go out soon, but in a piecemeal fashion instead of all at once. People affected will have a hearing before an administrative law judge to determine if they can keep their benefits. People will have at least 30 days to gather evidence and hire attorneys. Disability payments will continue throughout the redetermination process.
These new batch of cases are in addition to the 1,800 cases associated with Conn’s law practice the federal government has already reviewed. Some of them have sued the government seeking to stop those Re-determination Hearings.



   (Pictured above at right, Former Social Security Commissioner, Michael Astrue)                                                                        
 “It is heartbreaking to witness the tragic impact that Eric C. Conn’s fraud scheme continues to have on the lives of people living in Eastern Kentucky,” Rogers said. “While I appreciate notification from the Social Security Administration, I question the need for additional redetermination hearings while litigation is still pending in the federal court system.”
Beginning in May 2015, the federal government suspended benefits for hundreds of eastern Kentuckians associated with Attorney Conn and Judge Daugherty, prompting panic in one of the poorest regions of the country heavily dependent on those checks. The government eventually restored those benefits until each person could have a hearing, but not before a few people killed themselves in what family members said was caused by the stress of losing their checks.
Eventually, 1,800 people had their cases reviewed and 1,500 had redetermination hearings. Of those 1,800 initial cases, about 53 percent kept their benefits “received favorable or partially favorable decisions,” Hinkle said.
Those hearings took more than a year to resolve. Nearly all of the people involved could not afford attorneys, prompting a nationwide search for lawyers who could represent them for free. Robert Johns, executive director of AppalRed Legal Aid, said 136 lawyers volunteered, including 59 from Kentucky.
“We thought we were done with that,” Johns said of those initial 1,800 cases. “We’re going to likely be gearing up for the same kind of effort to try to get these (new) folks some help.”
pleaded guilty to federal charges last year. But just before he was supposed to be sentenced, removed his electronic monitoring bracelet and fled. He led state and federal authorities on a chase for six months before he was captured in December at a Pizza Hut in Honduras. He’s now back in custody in Kentucky, where he faces more charges.
Ned Pillersdorf, an eastern Kentucky attorney who has represented several of Conn’s former clients, said he worried about the impact this second round of notices will have on the region.
“This will hit eastern Kentucky like a nuclear bomb,” he said.
Seventy-two years ago, death fell from the sky over Japan. Two years ago, death fell on Eastern Kentucky in the form of letters from the Social Security Administration. Some of the deaths came by way of suicides.
One can hardly think of a crime a Judge could commit more egregious than Bribery. For a Judge to use his position for personal gain is unforgivable. For a Judge to extort bribes from the lawyers that appear before him is a crime worthy of going to jail. Judge David Black Daugherty is such a Judge.

He extorted bribes from Attorney Eric Conn. Attorney Conn was found guilty of defrauding the Social Security Administration (SSA) and the people of the United States of about $60 Million. Judge
 Daugherty’s decisions in cases in which Conn bribed him obligated the Government to pay more than $550 million in lifetime SSA benefits. Daugherty pleaded guilty to two counts of receiving illegal gratuities.
 Daugherty was charged along with Attorney Eric C. Conn. Conn made bribery payments to Daugherty from October 2004 to April 2011. Conn pleaded guilty to one count of theft of government money and one count of payment of gratuities.
He was released on Bail, and placed under house arrest. He was forced to wear a GPS ankle monitor while awaiting sentencing. Sometime in June  he removed the  GPS monitor and fled the country.
He was arrested on December 2nd in Honduras and returned to the United States. A trial date for the escape charges has been set for February 2018.
Conn was a millionaire only a few months ago. Now he is broke and behind bars convicted of fraud and bribery. He dubbed himself “Mr. Social Security" and collected more than $7 million in payments for filing bogus Social Security Disability Claims from 2004 to 2011.
Conn had been sentenced in absentia on July 14 to 12 years in prison. He was ordered to repay $5.7 million to the U S Government (Treasury) and $45.5 million to the Social Security Administration Trust Fund. 
 A judge ruled that Conn violated the terms of his Bond when he escaped to Honduras. He has been  forced to forfeit the property put up for his Bail. That includes his Floyd County law complex, valued at $659,100.
The astonishing variety of social media postings and nonstop chatter about The Conn and Daugherty Cases have revealed a level of satire that has produced no shortage of laughter. This humorous interlude is in sharp contrast to the gloom that has descended over the Kentucky mountains. For more than two years the dark clouds caused by Conn and his colorful array of conspirators has stubbornly hung over the most poverty-stricken region in America.
Now that the laughter is dying down, some sobering facts are emerging. Almost a thousand of Conn's former clients have lost their Social Security Benefits. They have also lost their health insurance and are receiving ominous letters from the Social Security Administration demanding those who struggled to exist on $800 per month they must pay back amounts often in excess of $100,000. There have been confirmed suicides. How many? We may never know the true number for sure.
Kentucky feels a lot like Hiroshima and Nagasaki.We did not see it coming.

Crime Does Not Pay/Easy Come Easy Go/

( 12/29/2017).  Crime does not pay. Attorney Eric C. Conn recently found this out the hard way. Conn was a millionaire only a few months ago. Now he is broke and behind bars convicted of fraud and bribery. He dubbed himself “Mr. Social Security" and collected more than $7 million in payments for filing bogus Social Security Disability Claims from 2004 to 2011.

In a total denial of all personal responsibility, this former millionaire was brazen enough to ask for a public defender. That is about as brazen as a man who murders his parents, and then throws himself upon the  mercy of the Court on the grounds that he is now an orphan. That takes more than a lot of nerve. It is beyond audacity, gall and even guts. This man has chutzpah.

A Public Defender is an attorney-at-law appointed by the courts and provided by the State or Federal Governments to represent the poor and indigent who cannot afford to hire a private attorney. This is Legal Aid. It is a form of Charity. How far the mighty Mr Social Security has fallen.

He filed a motion December 29, 2017 in federal court requesting the appointment of a Public Defender.

One of the listed rights granted and guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment is the right to counsel; the right for defendants, who are on trial for criminal charges, to have legal aid in federal courts.
Indeed, crime does not pay, nor does it pay well. And the Wages are not guaranteed.
Conn filed Court documents saying the U.S. Government had seized all of his property. He also stated that he had $40,000.00 in an anonymous bank account in the Bank of Guatemala. When he was taken into custody, he was no longer able to withdraw the money.

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Former football super star, O J Simpson, was reported to have $12 Million at the time he was charged with the murder of his Ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. He hired a Dream Team of criminal lawyers to defend him. Led by F. Lee Bailey, and Johnny Cochran, the Dream Team succeeded in securing a verdict of "Not Guilty" for Simpson. A Public Defender is a far cry from a Dream Team. 

Conn pleaded Guilty  on March 24, 2016 to a two-count Information charging him with theft of government money and paying illegal gratuities to a Federal Judge. He was released on Bail. He jumped Bail in June 2017 but he was captured outside of a Pizza Hut in Honduras in December 2017.

He had been sentenced in absentia on July 14 to 12 years in prison. He was ordered to repay $5.7 million to the U S Government (Treasury) and $45.5 million to the Social Security Administration Trust Fund.

Conn marketed himself as "Mr. Social Security". He represented thousands of East Kentucky citizens seeking Social Security Disability Benefits. Their claims were approved in almost 100% of the cases because Judge David Daugherty approved them without holding hearings. Most of those cases have been reversed after Hearings were conducted by other Judges.

Tragically some of the Claimants are committing suicide. They were barely existing on payments of about $800 per month. Now they have lost their Benefits and their Health Insurance Coverage has been cancelled. The Social Security Administration (SSA) stopped paying those Benefits and demanded repayment of past Benefits.The average Demand is for $100,000.00

A judge ruled that Conn violated the terms of his Bond when he escaped to Honduras. He has been  forced to forfeit the property put up for his Bail. That includes his Floyd County law complex, valued at $659,100.
How the mighty have fallen. Like Humpty Dumpty, Eric Conn has had a great fall.Surely a man with such  chutzpah. will be able to put himself back together again. "Since Crime Does Not Pay" perhaps he will pursue a legitimate business next time.

More Social Security Administration Judges Go To Jail

Former Social Security judge, 81, gets prison time, must repay more than $94M

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(Above, Former SSA ALJ David Black Daugherty)
A former administrative law judge who took payments in more than 3,100 disability cases involving a now-fugitive lawyer was sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to repay more than $94 million on Friday, August 25, 2017.
David Black Daugherty, 81, of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, had admitted taking more than $609,000 cash in the scheme involving lawyer Eric Conn, according to a press release, the Lexington Herald-Leader and West Virginia Metro News. The sentence was the maximum for the two illegal gratuities charges to which Daugherty pleaded guilty.
The bribery scheme obligated the Social Security Administration to pay more than $550 million in lifetime benefits. U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves of Lexington, Kentucky, called the sentence a “sweet deal” and said it was “not anywhere near an appropriate punishment,” according to the Herald-Leader. Prosecutors said the sentence was appropriate given Daugherty’s age and health problems.
 
(Above Attorney , Eric Conn))
Conn pleaded guilty in March and fled on June 2. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison in absentia. A person claiming to be Conn wrote an email saying he fled because he thought it was unfair that Daugherty and another judge convicted in connection with the scheme would get sentences that were not as long as the one he would potentially receive.
Reeves denied Daugherty’s request to delay the start date of his prison term, the Herald-Leader reports. Reeves said Daugherty already had time to prepare for the sentence. He also noted that Daugherty had made an unsuccessful suicide attempt after his guilty plea, and he didn’t want to give him a chance to try again.
Reeves ordered Daugherty to repay the government $609,000 for the bribes he collected, as well as $93.8 million for the improperly awarded benefits. Reeves said he doubted the money would be collected.
Another judge, Charlie Paul Andrus, was convicted for conspiracy to retaliate against, a Whistleblower, a former employee who provided information to investigators. He was the Social Security Regional Chief Judge. He was sentenced earlier this month to six months in prison, the Herald-Leader reported.

 
 (Above, Former SSA Chief Judge Frank Cristaudo)
 The both worked for Judge Frank Cristaudo. He was the Chief Judge over all the SSA Judges. They worked for Cristaudo. He has not been charged. Instead, he took credit for what Daugherty and Andrus did, and he gor promoted. What's wrong with that picture? Is that the new America Way? The workers get convicted and go to prison? And the Boss gets promoted and lives happily ever after?

Posted August 28, 2017

By Debra Cassens Weiss

Culture of Corruption At Social Security Administration, Starts At The Top

 Social Security judge suspended in wake of Madison scandal.

Culture of Corruption at Social Security Administration, Starts At The Top

The "so-called" scandal in the Madison, Wisconsin Social Security Office of Disability Adjudication and Review, SSA/ODAR, is disturbing. I believe that Judge John H. Pleuss' is getting a raw deal.
I have some thoughts on the matter. At the end of this Blog post I have posted the article written by M. D. Kittle. Please read the article after I offer my comments. I have considerable experience in these matters.
This is an invasion of Judge John H. Pleuss' privacy. I express no opinion concerning the Judge's remarks in his personal notes. Some may find them inappropriate, and some may not. However, the Judge has an "expectation of privacy" in his personal notes and observations.
The Social Security Administration encourages the Judges to keep a "Private File" of notes to refer to when deciding a disability case. The notes help the Judge to refresh his recollection of the claimant and of the Hearing when he goes back to make a decision on the case. The File is separate from the Claimant's Disability File. They should not be discoverable under the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA).
The Disability Hearings are private, unless the claimant consents to strangers sitting in on the Hearing. The Judges' personal notes from the Hearing should also be private.

 The disability evaluation process is a "high volume' business. A Judge must hear 50 to 75 cases a month in order to produce an average of 50 to 60 decisions a month. There are no pictures of the claimant in the case files. All judges scribble notes and memory joggers in order to try to remember the claimant later when they review the file. Credibility weighs heavy in the decision making process. A Judge must conjure up a recollection of the claimant to properly dispose of the case. One Judge's characterization of the person who appeared before them may be different from another. His job is not to flatter the claimant, but to remember who he or she was. There is nothing in Judge Pleuss' notes that is grounds for adverse action against him.

If you notice all of the cited comments refer to women; and women, only. Normally that would cause one to think that the ALJ is obsessed with women or female claimants. But, I have a better explanation, and it has nothing to do with the ALJ.
I contend that this incident raises serious questions about the fitness of the Decision Writers in Judge Pleuss' Hearing Office. Judges do not write their own decisions. There are professional Decision writers in each Hearing Office. Lawyers and Para-legal writers draft a proposed decision based on the ALJ's Hearing Notes. The ALJ modifies, amends, and approves a final draft.
First, if a Decision Writer has passed on to the Civilian Managers in the Hearing Office Judge Pleuss' personal notes, that would be unethical and disloyal. We need look no further than the Decision Writers and Management to see what is happening here.
There has always been tension and friction between between the ALJ Corps and civilian managers, all the way up to the Commissioner in Baltimore, Maryland.
On several occasions the AALJ, the Judges' Union, has lobbied Congress to remove the ALJ Corps from under the authority, supervision, and management of the SSA civilian managers.
( https://www.amazon.com/socialNsecurity-Confessions-Social-Security-Judge/dp/1449569757?ie=UTF8&ref_=asap_bc)
Yes, there is a Culture of Corruption here; but, it starts in Baltimore, Maryland at the Office of the Commissioner and the Office of the Chief Administrative Law Judge; and it reaches down to the lowest level. And it is most malignant at the Hearing Office Director (HOD) and Decision Writers level.
Many of the Decision Writers suffer from mild mental disorders. They tend towards Melancholia. They are frustrated, and they bicker and complain. Some tend to be trouble makers.
Many, I have noticed, appear to be envious of the Judges. They resent that the ALJ hears the cases, but they, the writers, have to do the leg work of writing the decision. They work in the dark, behind closed doors, and get little or no credit. This tends to generate friction and resentment.
The worst of the lot are the male homosexual writers. And there are many. There were two in my office for almost 20 years. We had only six writers and the two males were homosexuals.
They are prone to hysterics. They are easily agitated, often for no discernible reason. I was discussing a draft decision with one once and, out of the blue, he became agitated and screamed at me. I was shocked. I did not know what I should do. Do I discipline him, or what? I did nothing, because there are so many of them and they are well placed. Also, the Hearing Office Chief Judges tends to protect them. So, I just let it go.
All of which brings me back to my original point. This is just the type of hanky-panky that male homosexual writers would start. This is how they operate. I know from experience. I spent about 20 years in a Hearing Office and I saw just about every kind of dirty office shenanigans that one could imagine.
The tip-off is that they only mentioned remarks about women. Anyone who has ever had to work with male homosexuals in a legal office or other closed community would notice that. It is a dead give-away.
All of this will probably turn out to be nothing more than a tempest in a tea pot.

     

    

MADISON, Wis. – The administrative law judge accused of sexual harassment and of making “highly inappropriate” comments about claimants appears to have been suspended, according to a source close to the situation.

Wisconsin Watchdog has learned that Administrative Law Judge John Pleuss’ hearings in recent days have been canceled amid a looming Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General investigation into the Madison Office of Disability and Adjudication Review, or ODAR.
Asked whether Pleuss had been suspended, an office employee who answered the phone Thursday, June 16 would say only that Pleuss was out of the office. So, too, was Hearing Office Director (HOD) Laura Hodorowicz. Asked whether Hodorowicz had been suspended, the employee said, “I can’t answer that,” but that the Director is “out today, too.”
Neither Pleuss nor Hodorowicz returned calls from Wisconsin Watchdog seeking comment.

Watchdog.org file photo

UNDER FIRE: Sources close to the situation say Administrative Law Judge John Pleuss appears to have been suspended as an investigation looms into allegations of misconduct at the Madison Office of Disability Adjudication and Review.

Doug Nguyen, spokesman for the Social Security Administration’s Chicago Region, did not return an email seeking comment.

‘Culture of corruption and cover-up’
Wisconsin Watchdog first reported last week about new charges of “pervasive” sexual harassment, bribery and nepotism coming to light at the Madison ODAR facility. These accusations came on top of previous allegations of misconduct, harassment, and whistleblower retaliation at both the Madison and Milwaukee disability claims review offices.
“There is a culture of corruption and cover-up, and that goes all the way to the top,” said an ODAR employee with knowledge of the situation. The staff member spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
Wisconsin Watchdog obtained internal documents showing what employees have described as “highly inappropriate” comments Pleuss has made about claimants appearing before him.
“Young, white (female); attractive brunette,” Pleuss wrote under “Initial Observations” in official hand-written hearing notes. The claimants’ names and other personal information have been redacted.
“Young, white (female); long brown hair; attractive; looks innocent,” the ALJ wrote.
He described another claimant as “buxom,” and noted that a “young, white (woman) looks like a man.”
“Obese, young, white (female) skimpy black top,” he wrote of another claimant.
“Very black, African looking (female),” the ALJ wrote, and parenthetically he added,“(actually a gorilla-like appearance).”
In one document, Pleuss wrote, “I’ll pay this lady when hell freezes over!”
RELATED: ‘Culture of corruption and cover-up’ alleged in Madison Social Security office
Pleuss is one of six administrative law judges (ALJs) at the Madison office. He has been the subject of an internal investigation into sexual harassment allegations, according to multiple sources.
The employee who spoke to Wisconsin Watchdog on condition of anonymity said Pleuss has acquired a reputation as “being sexually inappropriate.”
“It truly has become a national running joke,” the staff member said.
But there is nothing funny about the charge by those familiar with the administrative law judge and the “toxic environment” of the Madison office that Pleuss has approved or rejected disability claims based on “how sexy he thought the claimant was,” the employee said.
The insider claims “sexual harassment of staff is pervasive and ongoing” in the Madison office. Other sources have told Wisconsin Watchdog as much.
A disability claims attorney told Wisconsin Watchdog this week that there has been concern for some time about Pleuss’ conduct. The attorney said cases that seemed strong were denied, while weaker cases were approved.
“This issue may explain a lot about that inconsistency,” the attorney said. “Given your reports, I will now be able to raise issues involving females. It should be interesting since I will be asking for copies of his notes on every denial.  I’m sure that request will be denied and I may end up asking federal district court to issue orders for the release of the documents.”
The ODAR employee who spoke to Wisconsin Watchdog said the SSA offices in Milwaukee and Madison are “extremely hostile work environments for whistleblowers.” They also are closely connected by the same administrative players in the Chicago ODAR Region.
Reward and punishment
ODAR whistleblowers have told Wisconsin Watchdog that they have repeatedly been subject to retaliation and intimidation for reporting waste, abusive behavior and other misconduct in their government offices.
Less than a month after Ron Klym was featured in a Watchdog.org special investigation, the senior case technician at the Milwaukee Office of Disability Adjudication and Review was told the agency that has employed him for 16 years is proposing to fire him.
Klym detailed the Milwaukee office’s growing backlog of cases. Wisconsin Watchdog obtained records of some of the more lengthy delays.
More problematic is what Klym calls the administrative “shell game.” He said the Milwaukee office’s case disposition numbers have at times drastically improved because managers in the chain have dumped off scores of cases to other regional offices.
(NOTE: This is not new. This was happening before 1990. Shell Games. Paying Down The Backlog. See https://www.amazon.com/socialNsecurity-Confessions-Social-Security-Judge/dp/1449569757?ie=UTF8&ref_=asap_bc )
Multiple sources have told Wisconsin Watchdog that, Hodorowicz, director of the Madison office, protects Pleuss and others in her inner circle.
The employee who spoke on condition of anonymity said Hodorowicz is fond of making “dirty backroom deals,” offering  “cooperative” employees perks in the form of financial benefits and special privileges to maintain their loyalty and above all –silence — about misconduct in the office.
Eventually, the office director runs out of sweeteners, the employee said.
“When that happens , the threats begin. … She will threaten people’s jobs, tell them she won’t promote them, lower their performance reviews, say that she will give them a bad reference,” the insider said. “She will give them the worst work assignments in the office.”
Wisconsin Watchdog has obtained emails sent by Hodorowicz that appear to be threatening in nature.
Multiple employees say the office director has been the subject of several investigations into her conduct, in Madison and when she held the same position in Milwaukee. Each time, they say, her cadre of loyalists testify on her behalf. And, sources say, they are rewarded for their loyalty.
And a Madison office staff member said Hodorowicz has taken nepotism to a new level.

Wisconsin Watchdog reported Monday that Office of Inspector General agents are opening an investigation into the Madison office, particularly focusing on Pleuss,  Hodorowicz, and Wayne Gentz, a group supervisor considered to be a Hodorowicz ally.
Also this week, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., sent a formal letter to the Social Security Administration requesting the agency’s “unfettered cooperation” in turning over information related to allegations of misconduct and retaliation in SSA’s disability claims review offices.
“I write to you concerning reports of whistleblower retaliation within the Milwaukee and Madison hearing offices of the Social Security Administration’s Office of Disability Adjudication and Review,” Johnson wrote in the letter to Carolyn Colvin, SSA’s acting commissioner.
Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has been trying to get answers from the SSA since a staff-level briefing on May 9.
 By M.D. Kittle