A federal investigation has uncovered serious allegations of wrongdoing against the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General (SSA OIG) after a Trump administration scheme to soak the poor failed to give proper notification to disabled and elderly people before they were subjected to remarkably extensive penalties.
The investigation, now in its second year and led by the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General, has raised concerns about due process violations and potential financial harm inflicted on American citizens by a little-known program run by Social Security’s watchdog division when attorneys in charge issued unprecedented fines during the Trump administration.
Kevin H. Winters, chairperson of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency’s Integrity Committee (IC), outlined the investigation’s scope in a recent letter to Social Security Administration Commissioner Martin O’Malley.
Winters said that the investigation involves aspects of the SSA OIG’s administration of the CMP program and noted concerns raised by the Department of Justice OIG regarding the initiation of Section 1129 actions without proper written notice to affected individuals.
According to the report issued by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, there were stark due process violations discovered, particularly starting in 2018.
In other words, the Social Security Administration’s internal watchdog failed to properly notify some poor and disabled Americans before saddling them with huge fines.
Investigators found no evidence of written notice being sent to some individuals subjected to massive penalties, exceeding $100,000 in certain cases. Even when notification letters were sent in previous years, there were instances of improper service of notice of proposed fines.
The inflated fees were set in motion during the Trump administration when attorneys in charge of a little-known anti-fraud program run by the inspector general’s office levied unprecedented fines against more than 100 beneficiaries without due process.
Fines as high as hundreds of thousands of dollars were imposed on poor, disabled, and elderly people, many of whom had no hope of ever being able to pay.
A Chicago woman was fined $132,000 after wrongly receiving as much as $10,618 in benefits. A Denver woman was sanctioned $168,000 after cashing as much as $14,960 in wrongly received checks.
Lynda S. Depiero, 56, of Sicklerville, in Camden County, New Jersey, was assessed nearly $435,000 after she collected about $47,000 in benefits but failed to report a $120,000 house she inherited from her father and car loans she co-signed for her children, on what she said was a lawyer’s advice.
The report emphasized that these findings raise “significant legal questions about the validity of penalties” imposed on individuals, especially those from low-income backgrounds, who could potentially face withholding of their future Social Security and disability benefits to satisfy the imposed fines.
As a result of these revelations, Horowitz recommended that the Social Security Administration review every penalty issued under the CMP program since 1995, notify affected claimants, and take corrective action where necessary.
The investigation gained traction following a Washington Post expose in 2022, which detailed how escalating penalties affected over 100 disabled and elderly individuals receiving benefits, accusing them of fraud.
Over a seven-month period— which started before Trump administration appointee Inspector General Gail Ennis took office in 2019— charged 83 people a total of $11.5 million, up from less than $700,000 for all of 2017.
Social Security, which long ago delegated administration of the program to the inspector general’s office, suspended the Civil Monetary Penalty program following the 2022 newspaper report.
Ennis, who assumed office in 2019, has faced scrutiny amid these allegations.
While acknowledging mistakes in notifying individuals of fines, Ennis’s office argued that the errors were harmless, an assertion with which Horowitz disagreed, calling for prompt agency attention and corrective measures.
Through a spokesperson, the Trump appointee expressed disappointment with the investigation’s scope and urged a reconsideration of the recommendations.
Nevertheless, the Justice Department’s findings have prompted calls for Ennis’s removal, with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden saying that the investigation shows the need for leadership change in the Inspector General’s office.
The Civil Monetary Penalty program was established with bipartisan support to combat fraud within Social Security programs but people who accidentally received excess payments often found themselves deeper than they could hope to get themselves out.
The inspector general’s office charged Gail Deckman $119,392 — nearly three times the amount she received in error during the four years since her longtime partner died of kidney cancer— so the Social Security Administration garnished the entire $704 monthly check the 75-year-old would have received when she retired from her minimum-wage job. She can apply for retirement in 2032 — when she’s 83 and the trust fund from which Social Security payments come is expected to run dry.
The recent investigation exposed procedural lapses and due process violations, prompting calls for comprehensive reform and accountability in the Social Security Administration’s oversight mechanisms.
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