(LEX 18) — A former social security attorney now sitting in jail after being convicted in a multi-million dollar Social Security fraud scheme has filed a motion to be released from jail.
Eric C. Conn was sentenced to 27 years due to his role in the scheme, following a brief escape to Central America.
Eric C. Conn filed a handwritten motion from prison asking that his guilty plea be overturned due to his former attorney, Scott White, having a conflict of interest. Conn claims the FBI began investigating whether or not White knew or was involved with Conn's escape to Honduras before being sentenced.
After Conn was captured in a Honduran Pizza Hut and extradited to the United States, a new counsel was assigned to his case. According to the motion, his second counsel, Willis Coffey, was ineffective due to his convincing Conn to plead guilty to the escape charge.
Conn's motion was handwritten, he states, because he was in "the middle of a lockdown" at his federal facility.
Attorney Ned Pillersdorf, who represents several former clients of Conn whose social security benefits have recently been reinstated, reacted to the news of Conn's motion on social media. Although not shocked that Conn is asking to be released, Pillersdorf expressed certainty that the motion would be denied.
"The handwritten motion is laughable and frivolous, with zero chance of being granted," Pillersdorf wrote in a Facebook post.
Read the motion here.
