"The Big Conn" Answers Lingering Questions About a Complex Fraud Scheme

Published on May 5, 2022 at 7:30 PM

Apple TV+ is peeling back the layers on a complex true crime story in "The Big Conn." The enthralling four-part docuseries recalls a government fraud scheme involving Eric C. Conn, the larger-than-life Kentucky attorney who stole over half-a-billion dollars from American taxpayers and was subsequently sentenced to prison for his crimes.

"As we continued to look into [the story], we just became more and more fascinated, not just with Eric, but with the whistleblowers, the 'WSJ' reporter, and the humanitarian crisis that this created at the end of all of it."

The Apple TV+ documentary project was created by Emmy-nominated writer/director duo James Lee Hernandez and Brian Lazarte. The "McMillion$" directors tell POPSUGAR that they were compelled to bring Conn's scandalous story to the small screen after their fellow executive producer Peter King brought it to their attention. "We started looking into it and [King] was on the surface really selling us on it," Hernandez shares. "Like there's this crazy lawyer, he's got Bentleys, multimillion-dollar houses, he's jet-setting around the world, and all off stealing half a billion dollars from the government. As we continued to look into [the story], we just became more and more fascinated, not just with Eric, but with the whistleblowers, the 'WSJ' reporter, and the humanitarian crisis that this created at the end of all of it."

Conn's name, which was once advertised as "Mr. Social Security," used to echo throughout his home state when he headed the largest Social Security law firm in Kentucky. At one point, his clients sought him out for assistance in getting their disability benefits, as that was his specialty. However, these individuals weren't privy to Conn's illegal tactics and were unknowingly pulled into a $600 million fraud.

For years, Conn got away with his fraudulent endeavors by way of bribes to doctors who falsified his clients' medical records and judges who approved their lifetime disability benefits. It wasn't until whistleblowers/former Social Security Administration employees Jennifer Griffith and Sarah Carver came along that Conn's crimes were exposed. But even then, Hernandez and Lazarte say the tragic story has only been documented in "tiny little portions since 2011." "We're all affected by [this case], but we'd never seen a deep dive into it," Lazarte says. "No one had ever spent the amount of time to really see all the different sides and how complex the system is. And that's part of the reason why this fraud happened and he was able to get away with it . . . We're just elated that the story's actually going to get out there in a big way and people can see the whole picture now."

"The people who are really affected by this were his clients — his victims."

To this day, many of Conn's former clients — some of who are featured in "The Big Conn" — are still fighting to reinstate their benefits. And while they're seeking justice through the legal system, Hernandez and Lazarte are hopeful that their docuseries will eventually give them peace of mind. "For any documentary series, there are varying degrees of difficulty [to get people to speak out]," Hernandez notes. "For a lot of people, this is, if not the worst, one of the worst things that have ever happened to them, and they don't exactly want to share that painful moment and relive it . . . We actually hope [this series] provides closure eventually, because a lot of the victims are still fighting to get their benefits back. An unfortunate piece of all this is that people focus on Eric and his crazy antics, the whistleblowers, the 'WSJ' reporter, and the Senate getting involved. But the people who were really affected by this were his clients — his victims."

"The Big Conn" sheds light on the timeline of the con lawyer's scam, the fallout, his prison sentence, and where he is now. But for any lingering questions about the docuseries, read ahead for more behind-the-scenes facts from Hernandez and Lazarte.

Was Eric Conn Consulted For “The Big Conn?”

For many true crime documentaries, it can be tough to get those connected to the case involved. But according to Hernandez and Lazarte, their first order of business for "The Big Conn" was to get in touch with their subject and hear his side of the story. "When we looked at the story, we said you can't make 'The Big Conn' without having Conn himself. So we reached out right away," Hernandez says. "It took a while to actually get ahold of him and find him. And then it took several months to actually gain his trust to the point where it was like, 'OK, we're going to tell your story and we're going to do it justice.'"

The four-part docuseries features interviews and commentary from several parties involved/impacted by Conn's crimes — including the whistleblowers, investigators who worked his case, the "WSJ" journalist who reported his scam, and his victims. But the final episode features a phone call with Conn in which he expresses remorse for his scheme. "He understands that obviously he's done something very wrong. But at the same time, we are very adamant about showing all sides of the story to understand that life isn't just black and white," Hernandez adds. "There are varying degrees of gray that people live in and we wanted to show that whole round piece."

Who Reads Eric Conn’s Manuscript in “The Big Conn?”

The unpublished manuscript that narrates "The Big Conn" is, in fact, filled with Conn's own words, but he's not the one reading them. Lazarte reveals that it's actually "Narcos" actor Boyd Holbrook's voiceover reciting the document. What's even more shocking is Holbrook's personal connection to Conn. "He's actually from Prestonsburg, Kentucky," Lazarte shares of the actor. "When we first talked to him, he said, 'Growing up, when I would drive to high school, at the end of my block was a huge Eric C. Conn billboard and I would have to pass that every single day.' This was something that actually affected his family once all the fallout happened, so it was great to have someone who really understood what this story was all about."

Did Eric C. Conn Share His Manuscript For “The Big Conn?”

After getting in touch with Conn while he was in prison, Lazarte says the former attorney gave the directors his unpublished manuscript. "Over the course of time, we started to learn more about Eric and spent time talking with Eric," Lazarte says of reading the document. "It was one of the clear distinctions we had when we made 'McMillion$.' We never actually had the point of view of the main person who was responsible for pulling off the crime. So for 'The Big Conn,' it was one of the things that we felt would be very different, and one of the things that attracted us to doing another fraud-type story — we could include his point of view. There's a lot of humor in [the manuscript] like you can't read it without laughing. When you see it on screen, see the way we bring it to life, it's stranger than fiction; too much to believe."

Can Eric Conn’s Social Security Scam in “The Big Conn” Happen Again?

It's hard to believe a $600 million government fraud occurred right underneath taxpayers' noses, but "The Big Conn" reveals how Conn got away with it for so long. However, the big question the series still doesn't quite answer is if it's possible for the same social security scam to happen again.

"It's really tough to say," Hernandez shares. "There are some massive flaws in the way that social security is run, and it's basically been run the same way since maybe the 1950s . . . we really hope that people start to focus on this because we are headed in a direction where social security won't exist for people — young people, millennials today — let alone Gen Z. So unless things change, unless there's a larger focus on how things can be changed, it's eventually just going to totally dry up."