A group of corrupt judges, doctors and lawyers for years operated a
scheme that approved bogus U.S. government disability benefits worth
billions of dollars, according to an astonishing new report made public this week by Congress.
The findings mark the culmination of a two-year investigation into
one of the nation’s largest fraud rings involving Social Security
Administration (SSA) disability benefits. The Senate Committee on
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs ordered the probe after a
mainstream newspaper published a story about the unscrupulous
relationship between a West Virginia judge and a lawyer dedicated
exclusively to landing clients on the SSA’s disability rolls.
Besides detailing the inappropriate conduct and collusion between a
law firm, judges and doctors involved in the process of approving Social
Security benefits, the report outlines the inept agency oversight that
allowed the misconduct to take place for years, says the U.S. Senator
who led the investigation, Tom Coburn. The Oklahoma Republican is also a
medical doctor who joined forces with a bipartisan group of lawmakers
to investigate this unbelievable scandal.
“What is also outrageous, as this report details, is how well-heeled
and well-connected lawyers, doctors, and judges have gamed the system
for their own benefit,” Coburn said. “Every bogus claim made on behalf
of someone who is not truly disabled robs taxpayers and denies or delays
benefits for someone who is truly disabled. This is an enormous and
urgent problem that should demand our immediate attention.”
The crooked judges, lawyers and doctors used manufactured medical
evidence to put hundreds of claimants on the government’s disability
rolls and they raked in millions of dollars for their work. One law firm
got $4.5 million in fees from the SSA involving cases heard by one of
the shady judges highlighted in the report. That particular judge, who
is now retired, awarded more than $2.5 billion in benefits to 8,413
individuals during a period that didn’t quite reach seven years. That
translates into an unheard of 1,200 cases per year, investigators found.
The attorney who was the focus of the investigation made a killing,
according to the report, which says he was the third highest-paid
disability lawyer in the country. When the feds starting poking around
the lawyer destroyed more than 26,000 pounds of documents, investigators
say. That’s equivalent to 2.6 million sheets of paper. Employees of the
law firm confirmed that all hard copies of the disability lists as well
as computer hard drives were ordered destroyed by management.
This is hardly the first time we hear about a scam involving the government’s out-of-control disability program.
(Click link below to read more)
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Wednesday, October 9, 2013
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