TN 7 (11-12)

A. Policy for suspected criminal violation referrals

Report any suspected criminal activity that involves a representative to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) via the Electronic Form SSA-8551 (e8551) (Reporting Form for Programmatic Fraud). You must send a copy of the e8551 referral that you send to OIG to the Office of the General Counsel (OGC). Refer to the electronic and physical addresses for all referrals to the Office of the General Counsel in GN 03970.070. Determine jurisdiction based on the location of the representative’s practice. The Office of the Regional Chief Counsel (ORCC) in whose region the representative’s office is located has jurisdiction over the referral. The Office of General Law (OGL) has jurisdiction over referrals from the Office of Central Operations (OCO). If the appointed representative you are referring to OGC works for a nationwide entity, send the referral to the Regional Chief Council (RCC) office where the specific representative at issue is located.

EXAMPLE: Representative works for a law firm that has a nationwide disability practice. The law firm has its headquarters in Seattle, but the specific representative works out of the firm’s Atlanta office. If you have a referral concerning that specific representative, you should refer the case to the Atlanta RCC.

References:

GN 04105.000 Violations of the Social Security Act

GN 04110.000 Detecting and Developing Program Violations

B. Procedure for suspected criminal violation referrals

Follow the instructions below to refer potential criminal violations.

1. Complete the e8551 as directed according to the instructions on preparing the electronic form SSA 8551 (e8551) in GN 04111.065 and forward the completed form to OIG.

2. Email a copy of the e8551 to the appropriate regional Center for Program Support (CPS) using the usual CPS email address, and to the appropriate OGC office using the electronic addresses in GN 03970.070A, with a subject line “IMMEDIATE ACTION NECESSARY. REPRESENTATIVE SANCTION REFERRAL.”

3. Although electronic referrals are preferred, you may use a physical address when an electronic referral is not possible due to a prolonged systems outage or for other reasons. You can find a list with the physical addresses for OGC in GN 03970.070B.