All language subtitles for American Greed s12e06 Conns Job

In this episode of American Greed,
attorney Eric Kahn is the king of

law. He was like the Pied Piper because
people admired him so much because he

was larger than life. Everybody knew
that if you needed your self -security.

Go to Eric Kahn. He won. He never lost.

A shameless self -promoter. You now have
Mr.

Social Security on your side.

If you recall, Kahn makes millions
getting disability payments for his

He had a Rolls Royce at one point. He
would wear expensive suits.

But after government whistleblowers
uncovered a half a billion dollars worth

lies... escalated in a way that we never
could have imagined. Kahn turned

fugitive. Eric Kahn cut off his
electronic monitoring anklet and fled

Where is Eric Kahn?

Leaving his desperate clients to face
tragic consequences.

He never cared about these people. And
then when all hell broke loose, he never

lifted a finger to help these people.

There's nothing you can do. Nothing can
fix it.

Lexington, Kentucky.

On June 3rd, 2017, along a stretch of I
-75, the Department of Probation

and Parole recovers a gray backpack.

Along with it, a severed electronic
monitoring bracelet that's supposed to

wrapped around the ankle of attorney
-turned -criminal Eric Kahn.

Kahn, once one of Eastern Kentucky's
most flamboyant characters,

has just pled guilty to masterminding
the largest Social Security fraud in U

history. He's been under house arrest,
awaiting sentencing, and now he's

vanished into thin air.

We are looking for Eric Christopher
Conn. We need him to face justice for

defrauding the U .S. taxpayer of more
than $550 million in a

Social Security fraud scheme.

Clearly, he is desperate to escape
punishment, and desperate people do

things.

Disability attorney Eric Kahn hails from
Floyd County, in the heart of

Appalachia, quintessential Kentucky coal
country.

The Industrial Revolution was powered by
coal.

So for years and years and generations
and generations, this region...

Doug Cole.

Kentucky largest coal producer in the
country.

Eastern Kentucky where most of that coal
is mined. There are people who are in

this region who know no other thing and
would not do any other thing but mine

coal. In Kentucky they say mining coal
is a boom or a bust business.

It's been a bust around here lately.

The decline of the coal industry has
taken a toll on eastern Kentucky.

And by the early 2000s, nearly a quarter
of its population lives beneath the

poverty line.

Some of those counties have lost more
than two -thirds of their coal jobs.

So there's a lot of folks there who
don't have much money.

And traditionally, disability has been a
key source of income for folks.

And there are a lot of folks who would
qualify because you have a lot of

people in the coal mines.

For disability attorney Eric Kahn,
opportunity abounds.

Kahn has become a regional celebrity
since he opened his law office in

in 1993 in a trailer next to his
mother's house.

In the years since, he's come to be a
master of self -promotion.

Eric Kahn was probably the P .T. Barnum
of the legal profession.

You could not go anywhere in eastern
Kentucky without seeing one of his

billboards, big, bright yellow
billboard.

With a life -size mannequin of Eric Kahn
sitting on top of it?

He was the first lawyer who did
saturation lawyer advertising.

And there came a day, a day unlike any
other in your life, American working

heroes suddenly unable to work. Every
single billboard, every single TV

commercial, every single radio
commercial.

And not only was it saturation
advertising, but it was colorful,

I would say appalling.

Kahn hires beautiful women known around
town as the Kahn Hotties. Their job? To

appear at events donning tight -fitting
tank tops with Kahn's phone number and

moniker Mr. Social Security emblazoned
across their chests.

The Kahn Hotties are accompanied by life
-sized replicas of Eric Kahn, cardboard

cutouts of Eric Kahn, or sometimes even
Eric Kahn himself.

A source told me that he was sort of a
geek in high school, a kid who maybe was

bullied or at least not one of the
popular kids by any stretch of the

imagination.

She believed that what drove him was
proving to everybody that he was really

better than them or smarter than them or
more successful than them in the end.

Featuring Mr. Social Security Eric C.
Kahn.

Commercials like this one for Kahn
Services dominate local airwaves.

Come with Eric C. Kahn to the future.

3D, it's here.

In one outlandish episode, Eric Kahn
claims to be the first attorney to ever

create a 3D commercial, complete with
instructions on how to make 3D glasses.

Fellow Floyd County attorney Ned
Pellersdorf cringes at Kahn's antics.

It was just demeaning, made us look like
hucksters.

It was just on such a low level.

But some might say genius.

Mr. Kahn was a very intelligent person.

We believe that he was a member of
Mensa. As a matter of fact, he liked to

that he was. And I talked to a couple of
people who said that was true, as far

as they could determine that he was, in
fact, the IQ level of a genius.

Kahn's approach translates into big
bucks.

Eric liked to show off how much he was
worth.

He had a home in Pikeville.

He paid $1 .5 million in cash for it.

He had a Rolls Royce.

He would wear expensive suits.

Just flashy, just a very flashy person.

He was pretty conspicuously wealthy.

In 2010, Kahn spends more than $500 ,000
to install a 19 -foot

replica of the Lincoln Memorial in the
parking lot of his law office.

He holds a special ceremony for its
unveiling.

He said that he had the statute
commissioned because essentially he said

wanted to do something special and help
put Stanville on the map.

I think it was about promoting him.

I think the statue was about as big as
his ego.

Kahn demands attention, and attention is
what he gets in the form of thousands

of clients.

People would line up.

There'd be 50, 60 cars in the parking
lot as early as 8, 30, 9 o 'clock in the

morning. Yeah, he was like the Pied
Piper because people admired him so much

because he was larger than life, and he
was able to get people Social Security

and these benefits.

Well, I think at the end, clients went
to him because he won. He never lost.

I mean, why would you not go to him?
You'd be crazy not to.

For Emma Burchett's husband, Leroy
Burchett, going to Cannes is a last

effort. A printing press crewman and
former furniture delivery truck driver,

Burchett is plagued with debilitating
pain following two surgeries to fuse

discs in his neck that have slipped into
his spine.

He tries to keep working, but according
to his wife, a neurosurgeon tells him if

he continues and injures it again, he'll
be paralyzed.

You know, it's hard for any man, I would
imagine, especially a man who's a

father, you know, to have to succumb to
it.

all of a sudden not being the
breadwinner for your family anymore.

Nobody wants to go on the draw.

Sometimes you have to. I mean, if you
can't provide for your family, there's

other way.

Burchett applies for Social Security
Disability Insurance and is turned down.

That's where Eric Kahn comes in.

They say you can't get your Social
Security disability.

Hmm. Well, they don't know. You now have
Mr. Social Security on your side.

Burchard has seen Khan's commercials
like this one. He knows a lot of people

have gotten their benefits through the
Khan Law Office.

You can't live in this area and not know
about him. Everywhere you turn, there's

a billboard.

He was Mr.

Social Security. Everybody knew that if
you needed your Social Security, go to

Eric Khan.

According to Emma, Leroy goes to Kahn's
law office, now a whole series of

trailers in Stanville. He never meets
Kahn, but he fills out paperwork and

shortly after is scheduled to see a
doctor at the law practice.

They had a little room set up in the
back, and the doctor was back there in

examining room.

Just four months after his visit to
Kahn's office, Burchard and his family

received their first disability check.

We were tickled to death.

It was our way of surviving. It was, you
know, it's how we made our ends meet.

30 -year -old Jason Damron also seeks
disability benefits through Khan.

Damron never wanted to depend on the
government either, but it's what he has

do to support his family.

I don't want to be sick. I don't want to
tell the world I'm disabled.

I had plans. I, you know.

I wanted to build something in my life.
But recent open -heart surgery, coupled

with seizures, migraines, and a
progressive birth defect in his hands

has left him unable to hold a steady
job.

At the suggestion of a family friend,
Damron makes an appointment and goes to

Khan's offices.

Oh, wow. And, you know, I can't believe
you haven't got it already. You know,

you've got this going on and this and
this and this.

And... Oh, no, this should not be a
problem.

A few months later, Damron gets a call
to come back into the law offices for a

medical exam.

Looked like any doctor's office you've
ever been in. Cotton swabs in a glass

container and tongue depressors and sat
on the table and he, you know, gave me a

brief physical, listened to my heart and
standing and lifting and I left the

office and I was, that was weird, but
okay, you know, man's gotta... 50 -foot

Abraham Lincoln in his parking lot, so I
guess he can afford to have an in

-house doctor on staff. That's what I
assumed. I had no clue.

Like Burchett, Damron never meets Kahn
himself.

The truth is, I've met with hundreds of
Kahn clients, and I've yet to meet the

first Kahn client who ever met Mr. Kahn.

But none of that matters when Damron
receives his first check from the Social

Security Administration.

I felt human.

I felt able.

It was a relief.

I knew if I got hungry, I could go get
myself a meal. If my kid wanted to hang

out, if I only put $5 in the gas tank
and took him to the park, I could do

For clients like Damron and Burchett,
Khan is nothing short of a hero.

But how is he winning so many cases?

Does he just have a magic touch?

Or could Khan be living up to his name?

When American Greed returns,
whistleblowers uncover sinister secrets.

It escalated in a way that we never
could have imagined.

You've worked hard all your life.

You've been through hell and back just
to put food on the table, and now you

just can't do it anymore.

Thanks to an in -your -face marketing
campaign, by 2010, attorney Eric Kahn is

the third highest paid disability lawyer
in the nation.

He advertised he had a 99 % success
rate.

The other Social Security lawyers were
continuously griping, Eric's getting on

my business, and he's winning all these
cases.

Over the course of his career, Kahn
secures $550 million in lifetime

for his clients.

And for every case Kahn wins, he's paid
by the Social Security Administration,

the U .S. government, up to $6 ,000.

In 2010 alone, Kahn's firm rakes in $3
.9 million in payments from Social

Security.

Kahn's staggering success allows him to
take overseas trips to exotic locales.

He had gone to Central America. He had
gone to South America. He had gone to

Southeast Asia. He had traveled
extensively around the world.

There was some information in one court
hearing that he had crossed

international borders more than 100
times in 10 years.

Often, he does not return alone.

Kahn has had at least half a dozen
wives.

And he was quite the womanizer.

women from all over the world.

He was hardly ever in Floyd County. Most
of the time, he was in Thailand or

South America, marrying and, you know,
summarily divorcing various foreign

women. He introduced me to this woman. I
don't remember her name.

I said, hello, and how are you? Nice to
see you.

And he says, don't bother to talk to us.
He doesn't understand any English.

Typically, Khan married much younger
women.

He was in his late 40s, early 50s.

Brides were early to mid -20s.

And typically they lasted almost no
time.

The longest one that I remember was
about a year and a half.

And some lasted just a few weeks, a few
months.

One marriage lasted one day.

He was in the Caribbean on vacation,
married a woman there in the Caribbean,

brought her back here.

When he got home to Kentucky with her,
he sent her back.

Eric Kahn is living a charmed, if odd,
life.

But 85 miles away from the Kahn Law
Complex in Huntington, West Virginia,

employees at the Social Security Office
of Disability Adjudication and Review,

or ODAR, have started to notice some
peculiarities in the way Kahn's cases

being handled.

In 2006, Master Docket Clerk Jennifer
Griffith is perplexed when disability

cases that she's supposed to intake and
assign to judges are disappearing.

I was getting in trouble for information
not being input correctly and cases not

being documented properly.

But I really couldn't figure out exactly
how that was happening initially.

When Griffith takes it upon herself to
start looking for the cases, she

discovers they've been intercepted by
administrative law judge...

David B. Doherty. Basically, Judge
Doherty was going into our system and

changing the status of a case and taking
possession of a case.

All of the cases that Doherty is taking
have one thing in common.

They're cases of claimants represented
by Eric C. Kahn.

Griffith's colleague, Senior Case
Technician Sarah Carver, herself has

to notice some unusual patterns that
seem to connect Kahn and Doherty.

Normally we would only schedule for a
judge in one day, five cases, and Judge

Daugherty would hand you a pencil
itinerary and it would have sometimes up

names. And the hearings were scheduled
instead of an hour apart or an hour and

15 minutes apart, they were scheduled
like 15 minutes apart.

And nearly every decision Daugherty
issues for a con client is a favorable

Some judges might have a 60%.

favorable, where there's some judges
that have a 30%. It was unheard of that

judge would issue all favorable
decisions.

Carver and Griffith feel compelled to
report to their supervisors what they've

seen, but they say the response is not
at all what they expected.

Social Security heavily promotes this
idea of see something, say something.

I just simply thought that they would
see the issue, they would take care of

issue, and it would be done.

I never in a million years imagined that
their response would be to become

angry. But according to Griffith and
Carver, that is exactly what happens.

When I would question management
regarding Eric Kahn, in turn management

question me as to my work status and why
I would have time enough to pull out

those stats or to look at those reports.

They would question my work.

Over time, Griffith and Carver say the
more they question the relationship

between Doherty and Kahn, the worse the
retaliation.

I was followed. I had job retraining. I
stopped getting promotions.

The best example is when my group
supervisor followed me around and timed

action that I did within a day,
including going to the bathroom.

It escalated in a way that we never
could have imagined.

Carver and Griffith say pressure on the
office from the Social Security

Administration to move quickly through
cases is to blame.

Judge Daugherty was a big contributing
factor to our office's success.

Judge Daugherty would hear 15 to 20,
maybe even 30 cases a day for Mr. Khan,

times that times five days a week.

I think interrupting the conspiracy,
collusion, whatever you want to call it,

between Eric Conn and Judge Doherty
meant a significant decrease in that

office's numbers.

According to Griffith, the stress of her
work environment takes its toll on her

health. In 2007, she makes the difficult
decision to leave.

It's really hard to walk away from this
kind of job. But at the same time, your

health is more important. And my
physician said if you do not do

your stress level, you're going to die.

Coming up on American Greed.

While Carver and Griffith feel their own
supervisors don't listen to them, the

Wall Street Journal does.

Hey, maybe there's an explanation of why
this guy is winning 99 % of his cases.

In eastern Kentucky, attorney Eric Kahn,
a .k .a. Mr.

Social Security, looms larger than life.
But in May 2011, after a tip from

someone with knowledge of the
Huntington, West Virginia, ODAR office,

Street Journal publishes an article that
questions whether Kahn could be living

up to his name.

Its main sources?

SSA employees Jennifer Griffith and
Sarah Carver.

The article spotlights the suspicious
relationship between Eric Kahn and

Huntington, West Virginia, disability
judge David B. Doherty, who seems to be

deciding favorably all of Kahn's cases.

I vividly remember when the Wall Street
Journal came out because it was a red

flag.

That, hey, maybe there's an explanation
of why this guy is winning 99 % of his

cases. Following the report, Doherty is
placed on administrative leave and

eventually retires.

Khan goes on damage control.

Social Security employee turned
whistleblower Sarah Carver remembers

restaurant one day and seeing a stranger
across the bar.

I saw a gentleman videotaping me with
his phone.

And at first, we just kind of put our
menus up to where he couldn't see, and

was still taping, and it was obvious
what he was doing. And I even held my

up like I was videotaping him back.

you know, just more or less making a
joke of it at the time, and he left.

That's when it hit me that there's
something up. There's something going

That something, Carver will later find
out, is part of a retaliation plan

hatched by Kahn and Chief Administrative
Law Judge Charlie Andrus, meant to

silence Carver.

And it was their plan to have an
investigator follow me.

and try to show that I was not working
at home on my work -at -home day.

And they would try to use that to get me
fired, and in essence that would

discredit any testimony that I was to
give in this case.

According to testimony from former Kahn
employees, someone from the Huntington

-Odar office calls Kahn's office with an
alert every time Carver is scheduled to

work from home.

Carver is tailed for months, both during
and after work hours.

I mean, they terrorize Sarah.

Imagine, if you will, realizing that
you, your children, your house is being

stalked. And the reason they're stalking
you is because they've got to destroy

you. It makes me, even to this day, feel
real paranoid.

It was such an invasion of privacy that
this man was following me, but not only

following me, but following my friends.

my co -workers and my family.

Judge Andrus will later plead guilty and
serve six months for retaliation

against a witness.

He and Kahn aren't able to get any
incriminating evidence against Carver,

the evidence against Kahn is mounting.

Both the U .S. Senate and the Social
Security Administration Office of

General launch investigations.

Other federal agencies, including the
FBI, later join in.

We found several instances where there
was a check that Eric Kahn wrote for

cash. Then there were phone calls or a
phone call between Doherty and Kahn.

And then there was cash deposited into
Doherty's bank account.

The payments average anywhere from $8
,000 to $14 ,000 a month from 2004 to

2011.

But as things come crumbling down,
Kahn's not going to let the government

media have the last word.

I got a question for you.

For nearly 20 years, he's poured his
blood, sweat, and tears into building

practice from the ground up. In July
2011, Kahn releases a campy commercial

save face.

That may not be the story you've heard
from those who don't know the facts.

But hasn't anyone said something about
you that isn't true?

And so he made that commercial where
he's shown driving this expensive car

then he pulls up to the office late at
night.

Eric. And there's a woman who says, we
need you, Eric.

We need you back.

I never left.

You pretty much had to understand that
he knew he was under investigation and

this was a response.

When American Greed returns, commercials
offer little comfort when Kahn's

clients get cut off.

And he pulled a gun out from behind his
back and he said, I can't take this.

Behind the doors of his law compound,
attorney Eric Kahn knows he's under

investigation.

Kahn hires a shredding company to
destroy 26 ,000 pounds of documents.

Kahn ordered hard drives destroyed, and
we also had reports from witnesses that

they made a huge bonfire in the back of
the office where they burned records of

his clients.

And things are about to get worse for
the Kahn man.

In October 2013, after a two -year
investigation, the U .S. Senate holds

hearings examining nefarious activity at
the Kahn law firm.

The hearing will come to order.

Kahn has no choice but to go to
Washington.

But the panel of senators is not going
to get anything out of Kahn himself.

I respectfully assert my...

Constitutional right not to testify here
today, sir. Raise your right hand,

please. Unfortunately for Khan, Social
Security whistleblowers Sarah Carver and

Jennifer Griffith are there to testify,
too.

These women saw the disability programs
being exploited and were brave enough to

bring their story to the committee.

It was astounding to me that not only
was there what we reported, but there

was... A whole other layer of stuff that
we didn't know anything about.

Joining Carver and Griffith are former
con employees Jamie Sloan and Melinda

Martin -Hicks.

According to testimony from Sloan and
Hicks, every month from 2006 to 2011,

administrative law judge David B.
Doherty calls the con law office with a

of con clients that he is ready to
approve.

The list comes to be known as the DB
list.

After Doherty's nickname, DB.

He would give me the names of the
individuals, the first five numbers of

social security number, and whether he
wanted a mental or physical evaluation

performed on the client.

Evaluations are performed by one of the
doctors that Khan has in his pocket.

He referred to those as whore doctors.
He said that if they had sanctions and

had their license suspended before, that
he could get them to do whatever he

wanted and they were cheaper to work
with.

Kahn's doctors sign off on one of a
handful of templates called Residual

Functioning Capacity Forms, or RFCs,
that Kahn's firm has prefabricated and

arbitrarily assigned to claimants,
despite their actual conditions.

All he had to do was put in the client's
name and then the examining physician,

and these forms would already have all
the disability marks checked on it.

But while false forms are submitted with
their claims, many of Kahn's clients

are in fact truly disabled.

They have no idea that Kahn has used
fraudulent means to win their legitimate

cases. And when Kahn is exposed as a
fraud, the collateral damage is

devastating.

In May of 2015,

The Burchett family receives a letter
from the Social Security Administration.

And I just about hit my knees. It said
that all of his benefits were going to

stop, which meant no medical coverage,
no prescription coverage, absolutely

nothing.

And I read the letter to him, and he
just looks at me, and he says, well,

does that mean? And I said, it means
they've taken your Social Security away.

So my husband's just in complete panic
because, you know, everything's gone.

He's just in complete panic.

He said, I don't know what I'm going to
do. What are we going to do? The Office

of the Inspector General notified the
Social Security Administration.

It's the same notice that 900 of Khan's
clients receive.

Therefore, we are suspending your
benefits while we redetermine whether

entitled to benefits.

No warning. No, you know, brace
yourself.

No nothing. It's just... Your
livelihood's gone.

Have a nice day.

Then it was panic.

Emma Burchard's husband, Leroy, in
addition to his physical ailments, also

suffers from depression.

With the loss of benefits, he falls into
a deep decline.

He wouldn't leave the house. He wouldn't
get out of bed. He said, I don't want

to know.

I don't want to know what's going on
because nothing's going to make this

better. Nothing's going to fix this.

It's a little over a week after they've
received the letter.

He got up that morning, and it was like
he was a totally different person.

He came to the house yelling and cussing
at me and cussing at the kids.

He was throwing things and kicking
things.

He was just crazy.

I opened the door, and he was sitting on
the edge of the bed with a gun.

I took that gun away from him.

And he said the same words to me again.
He said, you're not going to stop this.

Nothing can fix this.

He stormed back outside.

My kids were standing right there.

And he said, I can't take this.

And he pulled another gun out from
behind his back.

And he shot himself in the chin.

Following the letters, Floyd County
Attorney Ned Pildersdorf is flooded with

calls from desperate con clients.

At that point, there was widespread
panic in this community.

We scheduled an emergency meeting of the
Floyd Bar Association.

I immediately filed a motion, and
federal court tried to get a court order

stop, to reinstate these people's
benefits.

And the word got out that suicides are
contagious.

Another con client takes her life the
day after Birchit.

Pillersdorf, with the help of
Congressman Hal Rogers, is able to get

temporarily reinstated.

But a total of 1 ,500 claimants must go
through redetermination hearings.

150 volunteer lawyers from around the
country pitch in.

But Eric Kahn goes radio silent.

Kahn had a brilliant business design.

Set up shop, do a lot of advertising in
an area where we have a lot of people

who are truly disabled.

Bribe the judge, a corrupt judge.

He made millions.

And then when all hell broke loose...

He never lifted a finger to help these
people.

Kahn's clients are paying dearly for his
fraud.

When American Greed returns, it's all
about to catch up to Eric Kahn.

But when justice comes knocking at his
door... The Federal Bureau of

Investigation confirms Stanville
attorney Eric C. Kahn is considered to

the run as a fugitive from justice.

The 19 -foot Honest Abe statue presiding
over the Eric C. Kahn Law Office is

about to take on an ironic twist.

In April of 2016, Kahn is indicted on 18
counts.

He stands accused of bilking U .S.
taxpayers out of more than half a

dollars in lifetime Social Security
benefits for his clients by bribing a

and falsifying medical forms.

Judge David B. Daugherty is indicted on
seven counts, accused of taking money

from Khan in exchange for granting
Social Security disability to all of

clients. Prosecutors call it the largest
Social Security fraud in U .S. history.

I think we were all elated. Finally,
after all these years of hollering and

screaming to get something done, the
indictment finally came in.

Daugherty, who did not respond to an
interview request, pleads guilty to two

counts of accepting illegal gratuities
and admits taking $609 ,000 in bribe

money. He's eventually sentenced to four
years in order to pay $93 million in

restitution. And in March 2017, after
nearly a year of negotiations, Kahn

guilty as well to a two -count
information of stealing from the

paying illegal gratuities.

Whatever else you think about Eric Kahn,
he's a smart guy.

obviously a lawyer by training, the
reality of what he could potentially get

terms of a life sentence, Trump,
whatever ego might have been involved

Kahn's sentencing is scheduled for July.

Until then, he's been placed on home
detention with an electronic monitoring

bracelet wrapped around his ankle.

Part of the deal, Kahn will testify
against psychologist Alfred Bradley

who's accused of signing false medical
forms on Kahn's behalf.

On Friday, June 2nd, Kahn is given
permission to travel to Lexington to

with lawyers and prepare his testimony
for Atkins' trial.

He was cooperative, he was in a good
mood, talkative, but gave no indication

that something was getting ready to
happen.

But that is the last time anyone saw
Eric Kahn.

Eric Kahn, the main defendant in this
case, cut off his electronic monitoring

anklet, and fled custody.

Friday evening, the Department of
Probation and Parole receives an alert

Kahn's monitor has stopped transmitting.

They locate it the next day.

It's been severed and wrapped in
metallic signal -blocking fabric in a

on the side of I -75 in Lexington.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation
confirmed Stanville attorney Eric C.

considered to be on the run as a
fugitive from justice.

He was going to run.

I mean, those of us that knew Eric, we
all knew from the very outset when he

released on home monitoring on an ankle
bracelet that it was just a matter of

time. Eric Kahn being a narcissist,
spent most of his life as a world

It was a totally predictable event.

The FBI puts Kahn on its most wanted
list, offering a $20 ,000 reward for

information on his whereabouts.

Then the emails start arriving.

A week after Khan's disappearance,
Lexington Herald leader reporter Bill

receives a message from someone
purporting to be Khan.

Having a fugitive send you an email is
so bizarre that I didn't believe it.

My initial reaction was that this was a
police officer, an FBI agent, somebody

that I know pulling a prank on me.

But this is no prank.

Then from an untraceable address, it's
the first of several messages that Kahn

sends on the run.

I thought it was nuts, but I also
thought it was a great example of Kahn's

I mean, even though he's on the run, he
still wants to try to control the story.

He wants to try to get his side of the
story out.

The first email has conditions for
Kahn's surrender.

One of his conditions was he wanted the
FBI to say that he wasn't dangerous.

He said I would never hurt anybody and
that he wanted them to confirm that he

wasn't dangerous.

And then there was another email where
he asked me to stop using this

unflattering mug shot of him.

And he said, you know, I think you've
made your point. You know, I didn't look

great in that shot. And he asked us to
begin using another photograph of him.

In the emails, Khan claims he flew out
of the U .S. the day of his

using a fake passport and is hiding out
in a country without an extradition

treaty. But that proves to be a red
herring.

On June 4th, two days after vanishing,
security cameras capture images of Khan

at a gas station and a Walmart in New
Mexico.

The following day, the Luna County, New
Mexico Sheriff's Department find a truck

suspected to be Khan's escape vehicle
abandoned near the Mexico border.

But there is no sign of Khan himself.

It seems he is long gone.

And I was frankly convinced they would
have a hard time finding Khan. It took

years for the FBI to find Mafia hitman
Whitey Bulger.

Khan's smarter than Whitey Bulger.

Next on American Greed, see how a beach
town, pepperoni pizza, and a mask swap

team mean Kahn's life on the lam is
about to end.

He did not look happy to be back.

Eric.

We need you back.

I never left.

Six years later, attorney Eric Kahn's
2011 commercial is now the punchline of

jokes. Contrary to one of his more
popular advertisements, he lived.

Khan has successfully evaded the FBI and
remained a fugitive for months.

We need Eric Khan to face justice.

We need him to come back and be
accountable for his actions.

While on the lam, he's sentenced in
absentia to 12 years in prison in order

pay $170 million in restitution for
orchestrating the largest Social

fraud in U .S. history.

Psychologist Alfred Bradley Atkins is
convicted of fraud and making false

statements and sentenced to 25 years for
his role in the scheme, despite the

absence of key witness Kahn. Just
putting aside the $550 million in

loss that the government could have
suffered because of him, the damage that

did to eastern Kentucky and to the
citizens, we had to bring him in. He had

face justice for what he did.

Three months after Kahn's disappearance,
his employee, Curtis Wyatt, is indicted

for aiding Kahn's escape.

The indictment alleges a plan a year in
the making and accuses Wyatt of securing

Kahn's escape vehicle and making
pedestrian crossings into Mexico to test

security. Wyatt eventually pleads guilty
to one count of conspiracy.

Kahn's whereabouts becomes the subject
of much speculation around eastern

Kentucky.

It was an opportunistic idea that I came
up with to create a betting pool that

said, where is Eric Kahn?

And all the money went to the animal
shelter.

It was interesting, the overwhelming
amount of money was bet on that he's

in Kentucky, and people would always
come up to him and say, well, he always

said he never left.

Nobody bet on Honduras.

On December 2, 2017, in the coastal town
of La Ceiba, Honduras, a middle -aged

Caucasian man sits down at a pizza hut.

for a meal of pepperoni pizza and Azteca
soup.

When he emerges, a mass Honduran SWAT
team brandishing machine guns awaits and

takes into custody one Eric Christopher
Kahn. It's six months to the day after

he fled.

It does seem kind of an anticlimactic
end after being on the run for six

to be arrested coming out of a pizza
hut.

Somebody said it could only have been
better if it had been at a Kentucky

Chicken.

Three days later, a government plane
lands at Bluegrass Airport in Lexington,

Kentucky. FBI agents are there to greet
a frail -looking Khan and haul him off

to Find Me, Face the Music.

When they brought him off the plane at
the airport, he looked a little bit

befuddled. Not exactly confused, but
kind of bewildered.

He did not look happy to be back.

Make it sort of safe, Mr.

Khan.

How does it feel to be back?

Today, I'm pleased to announce that Mr.
Kahn is in custody. As promised, Mr.

Kahn will now be held accountable for
his actions, the people he deceived, and

the lives he shattered.

Kahn is now at the Grayson County
Detention Center in Litchfield,

beginning his 12 -year sentence.

Later this year, he will go on trial for
charges related to his escape.

He is pled not guilty.

And because he violated his plea deal by
absconding, He remains charged on all

counts from the initial fraud
indictment.

That trial is set for early next year.

If convicted, he could spend the rest of
his life in prison.

He thinks he's smarter than everybody
else, and I think that was his downfall.

He made a lot of mistakes as a result of
thinking that nobody would ever catch

him.

In a letter to American Greed, Kahn
writes, I once had money to fly around

world, rent entire clubs, drive Rolls
Royce, and so much more.

Now I am sitting in a cell having to
write letters on tissue paper.

The irony or poetic justice of my
situation does not escape me.

I hope others can learn not to make the
mistakes I did.

Around eastern Kentucky, Eric Kahn's
flashy billboards are all but gone.

But the memory of his con job will haunt
those who live here for generations to

come. When he was caught, there was that
little ha -ha moment that, you know,

karma. After his hearing, Jason Damron's
benefits are not reinstated.

Instead, he gets an $87 ,000 bill from
the Social Security Administration for

back pay.

Khan's capture makes little difference.

You know, everybody wants that.

Self -satisfying vengeance when they
feel they've been wronged or hurt. I got

that for a moment.

But then it just fell back to reality
of, what's it going to change?

Attorney Ned Pillarsdorf is still
fighting to get Social Security benefits

restored to 800 of Khan's clients.

He posts Eric Khan fiasco updates to his
Facebook page several times a week.

Mental health professionals said Ned...

People commit suicide when they think
they're being abandoned.

The Eric Kahn fiasco updates I post on
my Facebook page, one of the main

I do this has been really, number one,
suicide prevention.

Number two, to let these people know
what's going on and to let the people

they're not being abandoned.

2 ,000 more Kahn clients are being
notified that they'll be put through

hearings.

For the Burchett family, life will never
be the same.

No matter what happens, my children are
going to grow up without their father.

Neither of my four girls are ever going
to walk down the aisle without their

father or daddy.

And it was all because of him.

I could care less what happens.

The Christian in me cares about his
soul.

But the human side in me tells me that
he ought to burn in hell for what he's

put people through.

On the next American Greed, a famous
musician scores big in a heartless

scam. Money was being taken from these
charities and it was going to line his

own pocket. American Greed, coming up
next.

CNBC, get yours.