LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Reuters) - A Kentucky lawyer, a retired administrative law judge and a psychologist have been charged with committing $600 million in disability fraud by submitting phony medical records to the government, according an indictment unsealed on Tuesday.

The 18-count federal indictment accused Eric Christopher Conn, an attorney who advertised his services through the website MrSocialSecurity.com, of directing the fraud scheme over the course of eight years with two other named defendants - David Black Daugherty and Alfred Adkins.

Prosecutors allege Conn filed more than 2,000 bogus claims with the Social Security Administration seeking disability benefits totaling more than $600 million, some of which was obtained by Conn’s clients in the form of retroactive payments.

Claims for his clients, residing primarily in four eastern Kentucky counties, were all routed to a regional office in Huntington, West Virginia, where Daugherty, an administrative law judge for 21 years, either assigned the cases to himself or had someone else assign them to him, the indictment said.

Conn also is accused of destroying evidence once he came under investigation and of threatening an individual who provided accurate information to authorities.

Atkins’ alleged role in the scheme was providing contractual psychological services for Conn’s clients, the indictment said.

Neither Conn, 55, Daugherty, 81, Atkins, 44, or any of their legal representatives, could be reached for comment.

Conn faces multiple counts of mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.

Daugherty was charged with three counts each of mail fraud and wire fraud, along with two counts of conspiracy.

Adkins was charged with three counts each of mail and wire fraud, two counts of giving false statements and one count of conspiracy.

David Habich, an FBI spokesman in Louisville, said the three men were arrested after the indictment.

Conn and Adkins, both from Pikeville, Kentucky, were scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday. Adkins was granted conditional release according to court documents, but Conn continued to be held pending another hearing Thursday, prosecutors said.

It was not immediately clear when Daugherty, now a resident of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, would make his first court appearance.

Three unindicted co-conspirators in the case were identified as two doctors and an office manager for Conn, according to court documents.