Re-Conn-ciliation / Conn-sequences

The Big Conn: The Official Podcast

The final episode of the series details the aftermath of Eric Kahn's massive Social Security fraud scheme, following his return from Honduras and

Key takeaways

• Eric Kahn was sentenced to 27 years in prison and ordered to pay $106 million in restitution.
• A massive cache of abandoned medical records for Kahn's clients was discovered in his former law office files.

Main topics

• Eric Kahn's extradition and sentencing
• The discovery of abandoned client files

Notable quotes

It's Shakespearean in that it is comic and tragic.

Conclusion

The episode provides a sobering conclusion that emphasizes how crimina

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) In 1935, Speaker 4 (0:02) Franklin D. Roosevelt put his signature on the Speaker 3 (0:04) Social Security Act. Speaker 4 (0:08) This Speaker 3 (0:11) is Eric Z. Kahn. This is one of the Speaker 6 (0:14) craziest people who pulled off the biggest scam in the history of the Social Security Administration. Speaker 8 (0:20) If he couldn't help me, nobody could. Speaker 6 (0:24) I guess he perfected a way to screw the government more efficiently than everybody else did. Everybody who came to see him got their benefits and they got them quickly. I thought he was helping me. But at that time he was doing nothing but really fucking me. I mean, I'm just being honest. Speaker 3 (0:43) Everybody knew Eric Kahn was Mr. Social Security. Speaker 1 (0:52) From Fun Meter, I'm James Lee Hernandez. And I'm Brian Lizarte. We're the executive producers and directors behind the new Apple TV Plus documentary series, The Big Con. And yet again, as a reminder, all four episodes are available to stream right now on Apple TV Plus where available. Speaker 7 (1:13) And Speaker 1 (1:14) this is The Big Speaker 7 (1:14) Con, the official podcast from Apple TV Plus, a companion piece to the documentary series, of the same name. Speaker 1 (1:22) Well, Brian, it's sad to say, but this is our final episode, and we've covered a lot of ground over the last five weeks. For sure, we have, James. Speaker 7 (1:32) And I can't believe we're here, episode six. And there is quite a bit more to this story that we're going to get into here, including some important updates that took place after our filming completed. But before we get to that, Let's dive back into where we left off at the end Speaker 1 (1:52) of the last episode. This is episode six, Reconciliation. On the evening of December 3rd, 2017, Eric Kahn was being held in a hotel room in Tegucigalpa while the FBI figured out how to get him back to the United States. Eric's version of what happened that night goes like this. Speaker 6 (2:20) I met with a team which comprised of four Honduran police officers. When the team and I sat down for dinner, the senior member of the team started asking me question after question about money. I said, I don't have any money. He looked at me and said, I'm going to give you two choices. You can transfer the money to the bank accounts that I will give to you, and you can walk out that door a free man. On the other hand, you can refuse to transfer the money, and you may or may not make it back to the United States alive. Apparently, his second-in-command thought his message needed a non-verbal reinforcement. He locked and loaded his assault rifle and violently slammed it down on the table in front of him. I felt like the Grim Reaper was in the backswing, and I was next on the list. Speaker 7 (3:15) Remember though, the FBI special agent Luis Rosa's side is different. He says that Eric had bribed the Honduran agents with $90 million to let him go. We don't know exactly what happened in the hotel room that day between Eric and the agents, but regardless of where the truth lies, here's what happened next from the FBI's perspective. Speaker 8 (3:36) The fact that they called me first filled out some trust. However, I didn't want to underestimate Eric Kahn. Speaker 7 (3:45) Luis didn't know if Eric really had that kind of money, but he didn't want to risk it. For reference, $90 million would make someone a billionaire in Honduras. If he's trying to bribe Speaker 8 (3:57) people, $90 million, it would be a matter of time before somebody will say yes instead of giving me a call in the middle of the night. I went from being concerned about getting him out of the country. Now I'm concerned as to how fast I'm going to get him out of the country before he's able to do Speaker 1 (4:15) his thing. The problem was... Luis was stuck with Eric in Honduras. The airports were still shut down because of the civil unrest with no signs of reopening anytime soon. That would give Eric plenty of time to plan his next move, Luis thought. So he had no choice but to ask for another favor. Speaker 8 (4:36) So I called my buddy, the jiu-jitsu pilot kicked my ass that day, and I told him my problem. Maybe as a mode of negotiation, I promised him I'll let him do a jiu-jitsu move on me in the next training. He told me, listen, I can definitely transport Eric Cohn to the United States. We can use the same plane, the same C-12. Speaker 1 (5:00) So Luis went back to the hotel where Eric was being held. And Eric was still there and still alive. Speaker 1 (5:09) Luis escorted him through barricades and burning streets to the military plane. Speaker 7 (5:14) Finally, after six months on the run, Eric Kahn was going back to Kentucky. But to Luis, Eric didn't seem dour on the ride home. Speaker 7 (5:27) I was Speaker 8 (5:27) in a plane with him for about 10 hours. He didn't fall asleep. He talked the whole trip about every little subject you can imagine. We talked about mythology. We talked about women. He gave me a few pointers that I've chosen not to follow in my life. Speaker 8 (5:49) And we talk about prison. He asked me, he was very concerned about life in prison. And give maybe a mild admission that what he did was wrong by becoming a fugitive. That was my understanding on his remorse or the remorse that he was showing at the time. Speaker 7 (6:08) On December 5th, the FBI and countless news outlets were at the Bluegrass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky, all ready to swarm the plane the second Speaker 1 (6:17) it landed, if it ever did. There was a lot of back and forth on exactly when it would land. Folks had been waiting in the cold for hours and hours as day became night. When the plane finally arrived, Donnie Kidd and Amy Hess were there to greet Eric. Speaker 3 (6:37) I think there was, gosh, probably four or five cars that drove out along the edge of the tarmac to meet the plane. I remember as everybody got out, one or two of the agents was like, come on, you got to go with us, you got to go with us. He had specifically called me out during several of these email exchanges. I wanted him to see me, to make that point. I hung back far enough where we weren't in the camera shots, but where he could see us. I wanted to make sure that the people who had the most skin in the game were plain sighted to greet him. I also wanted them wearing their FBI raid jackets. Speaker 7 (7:12) Eric stepped out of the plane looking quite a bit thinner than when he left. Reporters' cameras clicked as agents escorted him to a black suburban. Here's an excerpt from the Doc series. Speaker 3 (7:27) I remember it was extraordinarily cold that night. Me and several reporters were yelling questions at him. Can Speaker 6 (7:36) I get you to sort of stay for a minute, Mr. Khan? How's it feel to be back? Speaker 3 (7:39) And all he responded with was, it's good to be home. I get the sense that he wasn't cut out for that life like he thought, but it was a hell of a ride for sure. He made it pretty far. Today, I'm pleased to announce that Mr. Khan is in custody. As promised, Mr. Khan will now be held accountable for his actions. Speaker 7 (8:08) The next day, Scott White, one of Eric's defense attorneys, strode over from his office to the federal courthouse for Eric's first appearance. He walked back to the temporary jail cells where Eric was held. Speaker 7 (8:24) So I Speaker 6 (8:24) saw him, I said, what does it feel like? Yeah, your wits about you. And it was just kind of, what do you say? He knew what he was facing at that point. And I certainly wouldn't kid him or rub it in or say you're a dumbass or anything Speaker 7 (8:39) like that. It was just... It's kind of sad. Scott had been one of Eric's attorneys for four years. If you saw the Doc series, you'll remember that Eric claimed Scott encouraged him to go on the run. Scott, of course, said it was all bullshit. But his focus in court that day was what kind of prison time Eric was now Speaker 1 (9:00) looking at. Reporters packed the courtroom for Eric's first appearance. A judge told Eric he was looking at spending twice as long in prison than he was facing before, a total of 27 years. Afterward, Scott was packing up to go back to his office when he heard someone call his name. Speaker 7 (9:17) Hey, Wyatt. Wyatt, I got a present for you. Scott turned around and recognized an FBI agent he had worked with before. I said, yeah, what the fuck? You gonna indict me? Speaker 6 (9:27) He said, nah, nah, I wish we could. I said, what Speaker 1 (9:30) do you got? He goes, this box. The agent handed him a box full of Eric's possessions. Scott took it back to his office and opened it up. Inside were ratty clothes, a black duffel bag, and Eric's wallet. We pull Speaker 6 (9:44) all this shit out, Speaker 1 (9:45) and we Speaker 6 (9:47) get this wallet, and it is thick with cash. And I'm thinking, hey, we're going to eat good tonight, guys. And I said, hey, what's this? And I look in the wallet, and I pull out this Pizza Hut mint wrapper. The mint's gone. It's just the wrapper. And then it dawns on me. This is the... What's left of Eric's last meal as a free man, his final dessert as a free man, was a Pizza Hut. And I just burst out laughing. I just said, this is the most fucking screwed up case I've