Fugitive Kentucky Lawyer Wanted for $500 Million Fraud Scheme Nabbed in Honduras

A former Kentucky lawyer who fled the U.S. after pleading guilty in a $500 million Social Security fraud scheme has been captured by authorities in Honduras, Honduran officials said Monday. Eric Conn, who built up a small empire obtaining Social Security benefits for clients in Kentucky before authorities realized many of the claims were fake, cut off his electronic monitoring bracelet and vanished in June. His disappearance came while he was awaiting sentencing on charges of stealing from the federal government and bribing a judge. He was sentenced in absentia to 12 years while federal agents launched a manhunt to determine his whereabouts. Conn is now expected to be sent back to the U.S. this week after he was met by a SWAT team while leaving a restaurant in the city of La Ceiba, Honduran authorities said. The FBI office in Louisville has yet to confirm Conn’s arrest.