Social Security Judge Guilty of Lying for Gain

An administrative law judge with the Social Security Administration was convicted Wednesday of lying to get Social Security benefits for her daughter.

Elizabeth Price, a hearing officer for the federal agency in San Rafael, was convicted by a jury on one count of perjury and one count of making a false statement for use in determining Social Security benefits.

She was charged with lying when she applied for benefits for her daughter in April 1995 and said she had not been divorced from the girl’s stepfather, Robert Moran, who died in February 1994.

But prosecutors said Price knew they had been divorced, a fact that would have affected her daughter’s eligibility for benefits. The couple married in August 1985.

She was initially awarded $7,164 in retroactive benefits for her daughter, and $803 a month in continuing benefits, prosecutors said.

But another Social Security Administration hearing officer later ruled that Price’s divorce, which she had denied under oath, made her daughter ineligible to receive benefits for the loss of Moran’s support.

The charge of making a false statement was based on a document she filed with Social Security saying that as far as she knew, she had not been divorced from Moran at the time of his death.

During the one-week trial, Price testified that she believed she was telling the truth at the time. The defense also contended that her divorce was not the crucial factor in the determination of benefits, said her lawyer, Joseph Russoniello.

Russoniello told reporters he was studying several grounds to overturn the verdict, including U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer’s refusal to let the jury consider a claim that the divorce was invalid.

Russoniello said neither Price nor her husband lived in Washington when a judge there issued the divorce decree. Breyer ruled that Price had been served with notice of the divorce proceedings and could not challenge them at this point, Russoniello said.

He said Price remains on paid leave from her government job.

Breyer scheduled sentencing for Jan. 12. He also asked for more information about some of Price’s trial testimony about transactions with her ex-husband to determine whether she was telling the truth. Lying on the witness stand in one’s own defense can increase a federal prison sentence.

The maximum sentence for each charge is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Geoffrey Anderson.