What did Eric C Conn do? Apple TV+ docuseries The Big Conn explores Social Security fraud

The Big Conn, an anticipated true-crime docuseries for Apple TV+, will focus on the largest federal fraud in US history. It will air on Friday, May 6, 2022.

The four-part docuseries, directed by Emmy-nominated filmmakers James Lee Hernandez and Brian Lazarte, chronicles the incredible real tale of the widely popular attorney Eric Christopher Conn, who scammed the government and taxpayers out of more than half a billion dollars in a social security scam.

On May 6, The Big Conn will be released, along with a companion podcast that will delve further into Conn's plan and extravagant lifestyle via more interviews and behind-the-scenes facts.

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Diving into Eric Conn's fraud ahead of The Big Conn's premiere on Apple TV+

Conn's climb to local prominence in his native state of Kentucky is highlighted in the teaser before his crazy actions and life-ruining deceptions are revealed. Conn was apprehended after a worldwide manhunt by law enforcement to arrest him as he attempted to flee justice.

According to Honduras' Public Ministry, Eric Conn, the Kentucky lawyer who scammed the Social Security system for more than half a billion dollars before leaving the United States in June, has been apprehended.

Apple's The Big Conn will debut internationally on Friday, May 6, exclusively on Apple TV+, accompanied by an official companion podcast on Apple Podcasts.

The unimaginable real-life tale of obnoxiously renowned attorney Eric C. Conn, the perpetrator of the greatest Social Security fraud case in US history, is the main narrative of the documentary The Big Conn.

Conn's scams and extravagant lifestyle will be explored further with more interviews and behind-the-scenes facts in all four episodes of the crime docuseries, which will launch with an Apple TV+ companion podcast.

The fraudulent attorney branded himself as "Mr. Social Security" while operating in Kentucky coal country, a territory where thousands of jobs have been destroyed and many people depend on disability benefits to get by. Conn advertised his ability to get disability benefits for folks who couldn't get them on their own via billboards and television advertising that flooded local radio stations.

In the minds of James Lee Hernandez and Brian Lazarte, a good old-fashioned fraud tale is worth telling.

In an interview with Deadline, Hernandez shared his thoughts on the making of Apple TV+'s The Big Conn docuseries:

"We had dinner with him, and he said, 'Hey, I heard about this interesting lawyer from this really small town in Kentucky, and it looks like he stole about $550 million.'"

He added:

"We started looking into it, and the rabbit hole just went deeper and deeper and more insane and more outlandish. In that region of the country, Appalachia, where you have from coal mining to a lot of manual labor, there has been a lot of people who are a lot younger applying for these [disability] benefits. And so he found a way to capitalize."

Hernandez continued:

"There was a scheme that was concocted between him and a judge to essentially help push people through the system… [Conn] would financially benefit from each person who would get through."

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The scammer was then charged with stealing from Social Security and bribing a federal judge. The offender was facing a 12-year sentence but managed to depart the country just weeks before his court appearance.

He was eventually apprehended by the FBI attache and was sentenced to an additional 15 years in jail. It won't be until 2040, before he's eligible for parole, that 61-year-old Conn will be released from a federal prison in Ashland, Kentucky.

This Friday, May 6, The Big Conn will make its worldwide premiere on Apple TV+.