Attorney announces ‘historic agreement’ for ex-Conn clients

By Lilly Adkins

BSN Associate Editor

PRESTONSBURG — Prestonsburg Attorney Ned Pillersdorf said on his Facebook page Monday that they finalized an “historic agreement” with the Social Security Administration that will allow the vast majority of the 500 former Eric C. Conn clients who lost their benefits six years ago to have their benefits reinstated.

Conn was convicted of a $550 million Social Security scheme in 2018 and was sentenced to more than 30 years in prison. Pillersdorf and other volunteer attorneys have been advocating for former clients who lost their benefits.

Federal authorities discovered that Conn had been bribing a doctor and a judge to approve disability claims.

Pillersdorf said in his announcement that the agreement will allow the reinstatement of benefits if they request new hearings. If the prevail in their new hearings, they can also retrieve six years of backpay, which will collectively total in the tens of millions of dollars.

Pillersdorf credits the settlement as the direct result of the “greatest volunteer legal network ever assembled winning legal victories all over the country.”

Pillersdorf also complimented the new leadership of the SSA who engaged in “good faith negotiations” that made the agreement possible.

“We will have an open client meeting on Thursday January 12th at two on the second floor of the old Floyd County courthouse to go over the comprehensive settlement,” Pillersdorf said in the announcement. “The overwhelming majority of the group that has become known as the ‘forgotten 500’ likely have no idea we have advocated on their behalf for the past seven years. As part of the agreement the SSA will notify the forgotten 500 in that we don’t know most of their identities due to social security confidentiality rules. There have been a lot of dark days for our vulnerable neighbors. Hopefully this just settlement will lead to brighter days. The truth is the ‘forgotten 500’ have never been forgotten.”