conn law firm. miss martin is an employee at the eric c. conn law firm. i'm not sure for how long. i'm sure you will cover that in your testimony. we're grateful to you for making time to come all the way to testify before us today. the next thing before you testify though, is i'm going to ask each of you if you will to stand and i'm going to ask you to stand and raise your right hand please. do you swear that the testimony you will give before the committee will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god? please be seated. thank you. miss carver, if you would like to proceed. your entire testimony will be made part of the record. you're welcome to summarize if you wish, please proceed, and welcome. >> chairman carper, senator coburn, members of the committee, good afternoon. my name is sara carver. in september 2000 one i joined the social security administration office of disability and review called odar begining a 12-year career at the agency. over the course of my employment with the administration i've held the position of a senior case technicia

eric conn was the rfc's in question. when asked i would be more than happy to eliminate or talk about that, but the biggest thing you asked if i had any reaction to anything that had been said, particularly by mr. coburn, i would take exception to being painted with a broad brush, as being someone who was recruited by mr. eric conn. the fact of the matter is i have no story, no checkered past professional. there have been no sanctions against me, nothing of that kind. and also i was not recruited by mr. conn. i actually, several years before the rfc incident in question came about, i went to mr. conn. at the time i was a young in my practice. i was trying to build a practice it at the time i actually went to mr. conn, and additional other attorneys in the area and became a vendor for the state of kentucky department of disability determinations. so the fact of the matter is that i was not recruited. i was trying to build a practice and looking for potential referral basis. thank you. thank you. >> you may continue after

the lawyer said he'd try to coax conn out of the office, and eventually, he emerged. >> eric conn: i'mmuch familiar with you. how we doing today? >> kroft: i'm doing good. look, there's a lot of allegations out there... >> conn: there are. >> kroft: ...about you that we wanted to talk to you about. >> conn: i understand. well, i'm not normally a shy person, but i think it's probably best i speak in the legal realm rather than here. i know you all have come a long way, and i don't mean to be in... inhospitable, but i just think it's probably best right now. >> kroft: you can't talk about your relationship with judge daugherty or your incredible success in... in disability court? >> conn: boy, that's tempting. ( laughter ) oh, i would love to comment on some of that. but not... i'm really sorry, i don't think i should right now. >> kroft: conn didn't want to go into it with senator coburn's investigators, either. they've been quietly working on the case for two years, interviewing witnesses and pouring over disability documents. that's why they asked us to protect their identities. what

eric conn rsc's in question. i would be more than happy to eliminate or talk about that. , you asked ifing i had any reaction to anything that had been said, particularly by mr. coburn, i would take being painted with a broad brush of being someone who was recruited i mr. eric conn. the fact of the matter is i have no story or checkered past professionally. there have been no sanctions against me. nothing of that kind. also, i was not recruited by mr. conn. several years before the rfc incident in question k about out came about, i was trying to build a practice. at the time i actually went to and became a vendor for the the kentucky department of disability determinations. isthe fact of the matter that i was not recruited. i was trying to build a this and looking for potential referral bases. thank you. >> you may continue if you have other things you would like to say, and then we will hear from the other witness and askar's a both of you. you are welcome to continue. no, sir, i believe that is all i have the s

believe that showed no inclination that there was anything nefarious going on with judge daugherty and eric conn? you had no belief that you, you had the suspicion that there was anything going on in this process where mr. conn was on the record, do multiple, multiple, multiple on the record decisions, would rotate decisions out of the registry and put them on his own docket, eric conn, take cases from other judges that were eric conn, and reassigned into himself and you at no time had any suspicion that i was anything other than judicial independence speaks no, sir. i am not saying that. >> okay. so my next question is, is if you're not saying that, you had to have had some suspicion that things were not going in an ethical manner in relationship to mr. conn and judge daugherty. because she suspected him of form shopping. >> yes, sir. do you regret now not interceding and that? i mean, you know, there's no question administered by judges have independence. but they don't have independence that totally flout the rules and violate the law. you would agree with that? >> yes or. >> do you think he

eric. >> okay. where would mr. conn's clients go when they needed to be seen by doctor? >> eric had medical but he had that only in the last year or two years i was there. mostly they were seen there. it was actually within walking distance of the clients would go to his office. for brad atkins i think he saw them mostly at his own office as well. >> could you describe to me a typical day when dr. or hufnagel was seeing patients in eric conn's patients the amount of time spent with the patient? you can generalize. >> when dr. or hufnagel was in the office he probably saw anywhere from 15 to 25 clients. he didn't spend a lot of time with him. his wife saw them first. i'm not exactly sure what she did. he only saw them for maybe 20 minutes at the most, sometimes lose the map. >> was there ever a time dr. or hufnagel did not sign a pre-filled out the rfc form? was their time you're aware that he requested a change in rfc filing? >> not that i'm aware of. >> ssa rules prohibit claimant lawyers from charging them, their clients for doctor visits when additional evidence is req

things under the rug in regards to in thety and conn, and e-mail, i warned them that the, quote, eric conn situation is going to bite this office in the butt one day. they changed the way conn's cases were handled. instead of any corrective action being taken, the situation only escalated. i continued reporting to management for several years thereafter before i kept my concerns out of the office. as a result of my multiple disclosures, i have suffered tremendously. has been allowed to harass, intimidate, oppress, ostracize,ipline, monitor, and make my life as miserable as possible for the last seven years. knowing that a private investigator was hired to follow me has been very traumatizing. i still fear for my safety and the safety of my family. also knowing that employees have been terminated for their has left mewith me with such a burdensome feeling. perhaps, i should mention at this point that the agency has asked me to inform you that i am testifying in my personal, not official, capacity, and that the agency does not sanction my testimony. every employee in the ,untington, west vir

and then eric conn gave you a note. is that correct click. >> that's correct. >> for sarah meese? >> she andy. >> i am sorry sandinista. did she work for you? >> at that time i wasn't the chief judge so working for me -- >> but she gave you the note? >> yes. >> that note was for you to give to sandra nice -- sandra meese and you didn't? >> yes. >> that now have a cell number of a contact and you gave it to sandra meese and she said she would call the person when she knew that sarah carver -- in other words when she was supposed to be working at home. right click. >> yes. >> how do you justify? >> i don't. it was a very stupid and wrong thing to do. i have got more questions. i have got a few more. >> i want to understand if i can how agencies, in this case the agency could be rewarded or its employees rewarded for meeting or exceeding their goals? if senator levin here for dr. coburn or any of my colleagues authored a piece of legislation even a good piece of legislatilegislati on they don't get paid any more money and their staff probably doesn't either. my understanding is that

eric conn -/ an... attorney in kentucky.../. he ... allegedly worked... with... a judge... and... several doctors.../ ...and... pocketed about... 4.5.... million dollars.../. the disability program ...gives payments... to.../ 10... to 15 percent... of the populaon... in that area..../ the report shows... the... disability fund.../ could... run... out of money by 20-16 how... much fraud... is connected... to... disability benefits? senator ... tom coburn... said... about... 25-percent..... of... the... 130---billion... spent... each year... pays... for... boguclaims..../ national... correspondent. .. kristine frazao... says -- / like... always.../ just... follow the money white collar schemes to defraud the federal government are difficult to spot and extreely burdensome to prosute. [sot lon engel] in0:08:38 "as long as u have that sense that i'm entitled more, you are going to get fraud." 20:08:44 trt=:06 malpractice attorney lon engel, in this instance, is not even talking about the masses who steal federal benefits -- he's referring to small numbers of doctors, lawyers and judge

. >> reporter: eric c. conne the third highest paid disability lawyer in the country stood before a senate hearing monday accused of perpetrating massive fraud against the social security administration. four witnesses testified against conn and judge david b. daugherty, alleging they collaborated. a 168-page report lays out their alleged abuse. daugherty is said to have awarded an unusual number of benefits, $2.5 billion while conn would seek out doctors with suspicious credentials. melinda hicks worked for conn. >> he referred to those doctors as whore doctors. >> reporter: the report claims these doctors would sign a claimant's form pavg the way for daugherty to review benefits. 1 in 3 reviewed revealed identical paperwork. receiving $1.5 million in lawyers fees. jennifer griffith and her co-worker sarah carver also testified monday they processed disability claims in huntington, west virginia. in 2011, they filed a federal lawsuit against conn and daugherty under the false claims act which allows whistle-blo

cut those corners our investigation found that judge daugherty focus on cases from one attorney, eric c. conn of the conn law firm. self-described multimillion at the mr. collins law office is located in stand of kentucky this practice focus almost entirely on client is seeking sources could disability benefits, early on mr. conn became known for his aggressive marketing, with billboards throughout the stand bill and eastern kentucky. witness interviewed by the can you said you could not listen to the rate or watch television without seeing his commercial. by all accounts his marketing efforts were. by 2010 mr. conn was the third highest paid disability at turning in the country, despite working in and with only 500 people. in 2010 to mr. conn received almost 4 million attorneys fees and agency. the own other attorneys receiving more from ssa were charles binder of the blind and binder firm, which received 22 million, and thomas of chicago who received 6.3 million. however, as our investigation uncovered there is much more to the story and mr. conn's advertising. mr. conn, judge daugherty and

he actually had a security -- eric is mr. conn. you would have to go through security check to make sure you didn't have any phones or recording devices or anything like that before you would be allowed to enter into his office.