opm.gov, Sep 22, 2005

Plaintiffs were represented by attorneys from the Seattle offices of Columbia Legal Services, the National Youth Law Center of Oakland, California, and Tim Farris, a private attorney from Bellingham. The agreement calls for them to be paid a total of $1.6 million in attorneys' fees for their time and expenses to date, and an additional $100,000 per year for each of the next two years to cover the costs of their responsibilities during the implementation of the agreement.
On January 25, 1995, OPM published a list of agents designated to receive legal process in garnishment actions
where the indebtedness was based on child support and/or alimony. Subsequent to publication, we were advised by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service that they had consolidated certain offices and requested that we correct our final rule.

This case was originally referred to the Oakland, California Cooperative Disability Investigations unit by an Administrative Law Judge from SSA's Office of Hearings and Appeals. The OIG investigation determined that a woman who had been receiving Title II Disability benefits since the mid-1970's, had obtained a license as a Certified Nurses Assistant in July 1990 using the Social Security number of her deceased step father. She commenced work as a Nurses Assistant and maintained steady employment for the ensuing ten years using the decedent's SSN, much of the time as a in-home care provider. The woman was indicted on multiple counts for wire fraud and for her failure to report significant events affecting entitlement to benefits. On July 2, 2001, she was sentenced to Ten (10) months incarceration, 36 months probation and restitution to the Social Security Administration in the amount of $107,202