Orly Taitz has filed suit in the DC federal court against the Social Security Administration. She has been trying to get information about President Obama’s Social Security application through the Freedom of Information Act.
According to the complaint, she has filed various FOIA requests and appeals, but they have been refused. Her latest approach was a request for limited information, not personally identifying the owner of the number widely reported as belonging to President Obama, but indicating the zip code of the applicant.
The full text of her complaint follows:
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Dr. ORLY TAITZ, ESQ, PRO SE §
Plaintiff, § Freedom of information violation
§ 5USC §552
v. §
§
Michael Astrue, Commissioner of the §
Social Security Administration, §
§
§
Does 1-100 §
§
Respondents §
COMPLAINT
JURISDICTION and venue
Current complaint filed under federal statute 5USC § 552 (a)(4)(B) and the respondents are officers of the U.S. government
PLAINTIFF
Plaintiff herein is Dr. Orly Taitz, ESQ, President of “Defend Our Freedoms foundation”, filing pro se
RESPONDENT
Michael Astrue, Commissioner of the Social Security Administration
- Plaintiff brings this action pursuant to the provisions of USC §552 known as the “Freedom of Information Act” (FOIA) and in particular 5 U.S.C. §552(a)(4)(B)
ALLEGATIONS
- Plaintiff, Dr. Orly Taitz, esq, is the “President of the Defend Our Freedoms foundation” (hereinafter Foundation) and an attorney, who represented this foundation.
- Both the Plaintiff and the foundation are dedicated to the preservation of the Constitutional rights and Freedoms of the U.S. citizens.
- Plaintiff works closely with a number of licensed investigators.
- Plaintiff received a report and an affidavit from a licensed investigator and former Elite Anti Communist proliferation and Anti Organized Crime unit Scotland Yard officer Neil Sankey. (Exhibit 2 A and B)Mr. Sankey’s report and an affidavit, showed that Barack Hussein Obama, the President of the United States (hereinafter “Obama”) is linked in the National databases to some 39 Social Security numbers and multiple addresses. The number he used most often since around 1980 is [SSN redacted, Doc]. According to Lexis Nexis and Choice Point this number originally was assigned to an elderly individual born in 1890, who resided in CT, but was assumed by Obama from around 1980-1981.
- The first three digits of the Social Security number signify the state. 042 signifies the state of Connecticut.
- Obama was never a resident of Connecticut.
- At the time Obama obtained such Social Security number he was a student, residing in Hawaii.
- To confirm such findings Taitz obtained an opinion of yet another licensed investigator, Susan Daniels, who attested to the fact that national databases show multiple social security numbers associated with the name Barack Obama, among them CT Social Security number [SSN redacted, Doc] used most often. She, also, found that this number was assigned originally to an individual born in 1890. Later, the same number was associated with the birth date 04.08.1961 and 08.04.1961. Dates of 04.08.1961 and 08.04.1961 suggest existence of some documents, created using an European system of dating: Day, Month, Year, versus the American system of Month, day, Year. Exhibit 1
- In and around 1976-1977 due to new Social Security requirements multiple elderly individuals, particularly women, who were housewives and never worked before, applied for Social Security numbers in order to obtain Social Security Benefits, therefore date of birth of 1890 originally connected to [SSN redacted, Doc] was consistent with many other examples of elderly individuals, born between 1890-1915, applying for Social Security cards for the first time between 1976-1977.
- National Databases such as Lexis-Nexis and Choice Point show another Social Security number, originally assigned to an elderly individual, being connected to the name Barack Obama.
- This social security 485-40-5154 is noteworthy, as it was assigned to Lucille I Ballantyne, born 12.22.1912, deceased 09.13.1998
- Ms. Ballantyne was the mother of Harry C. Ballantyne, Chief Actuary of the Social Security administration, who had access to all Social Security databases and death indices.
- Obama’s selective service certificate verification, readily available on the world wide web, shows a complete match with the number [SSN redacted, Doc], therefore verification of Obama’s use of this number since 1980. Exhibit 4
- Taitz verified this data with the third investigator, retired Senior Investigator with the Department of Homeland Security John Sampson.
- Mr. Sampson provided Taitz with an affidavit, stating that according to his investigation, the number Obama is using most of his life, is indeed a CT Social Security number. Mr. Sampson provided an expert opinion, that there is no reasonable explanation for one residing in HI to get a CT social security number. Exhibit 3.
- At the same time Taitz found that the National Databases show different dates of birth for Obama: 08.01.1961 and 08.04.1961.
- Recently released passport records for Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, show that Obama was listed in her passport under a name Soebarkah. (Exhibit 5)
- AP report from Indonesia, where Obama resided, show Obama’s Elementary school record, showing him using last name of his adopted father Soetoro, citizenship Indonesian, religion Islam. Obama denies all three facts.
- Recently Neil Abercrombie, Governor of HI, in an interview to Honolulu Star Advertiser admitted that he was not able to locate the original birth certificate for Obama, only a notation by someone in archives, that some record exist, though no actual original certified long form U.S. birth certificate was ever found for Obama.
- Obama provided the public only a short form Certification of live birth created in 2007, right before the election, which does not contain any essential information, which typically would be found in the original long form birth certificate, such as the name of the hospital, the name of the attending physician and signatures, The state of HI statute 338-17 allows a foreign born child of HI resident to obtain HI birth certificate.
- The state of HI statute 338-5 allows one to obtain a birth certificate based on a statement of one relative only without any corroborating evidence from any hospital.
- The state of HI statute 338-6 allows one to get a late birth certificate, obtained as a result of adoption or loss of an original birth certificate
- Numerous reports, claiming that prior Governor of HI Linda Lingle examined Obama’s birth certificate were false as well. Lingle’s interview reveals that she relied on a statement of former Director of HI Health Department Chiyome Fukino, but Lingle never personally saw a birth certificate for Obama.
- Chiyome Fukino made a statement that there is a record in Hawaii, however she never provided any information, what record exists there. A record created pursuant to statute 338-5, 338-6 or 338-17 would not be sufficient to establish one’s birth in HI.
- There were reports of newspaper articles, announcing Obama’s birth in HI. Follow up research did not uncover any such article anywhere. Nobody ever found any actual newspapers, announcing Obama’s birth. Only a microfiche image was found. There is no evidence, verifying when this image was created. Even if one were to believe that such news paper announcement actually existed, it still did not verify Obama’s birth in HI, as a newspaper article is not a prima facie evidence of birth and it could have been created based on a birth certificate, created under statute 338-5 and statute 338-17.
- As above information showed that Obama does not possess either a long form birth certificate or a Social Security number of his own, Taitz filed a FOIA request for the Social Security number application for CT social security number[SSN redacted, Doc], which was issued in CT around 1977 to an elderly individual born in 1890 and later assumed by Obama.
- Taitz agreed to accept a redacted application, which was denied.
- In March of 2010 Taitz filed an appeal and obtained a final determination on May 18, 2010, when her SSA FOIA appeal was denied by Jonathan R Canthor, Executive Director, Office of Privacy and Disclosure of the Social security Administration. Exhibit 6.
- Taitz appealed to the U.S. District Court, District of Columbia 1:2010-cv-00151, Chief Judge of the DC Circuit, Judge Royce Lamberth
- Court denied the appeal, citing that the court appeal was filed prior to the final disposition by the agency and the privacy considerations.
- In and around September 2010, Senior Deportation officer of the Department of Homeland Security (Ret) John Sampson provided an affidavit, where he stated that in situations, where there is a release of the FOIA request for the SS-5 application for the Social Security number, which is suspected to be illegally used by one, who is not the original applicant, routinely government agencies request partial information in order to ascertain, whether indeed the number is fraudulently used. Such information includes: gender of the applicant, zip code, where the Social Security card was sent, race of the applicant. Such information is general enough as not to reveal the identity of the applicant, but on the other hand, it is helpful in identifying fraudulent use of the Social Security number.
- On October 4, 2010 Taitz filed yet another FOIA request with the Social Security Administration. Exhibit 7. This request was received by the Social Security Administration on October 8, 2010. Six certified mail receipts of the Certified Mail requests are attached (Exhibit 8, 9).
- In her FOIA request Taitz asked for the following information on several SSA-5 forms: (a) Request for clarification, why SSA-5 form for Stanley Ann Dunham, deceased mother of Barack Hussein Obama, which was filled out in 1959, shows form revision date 7/65. (b) Taitz asked for the dates of the SSA-5 form revision dates (c) Limited information regarding SSA-5 [SSN redacted, Doc], such as zip code to which the original form was mailed, gender of the applicant and date of the application. (d) SS-5 application for Margaret Bossing [SSN redacted, Doc] born January 7 1896, death 1982, SS card issued in 1977 (e) SS-5 application for Antoinette Demo born May 30 1890, died April 1979, Social Security card issued between 1977-1979 in Danbury Connecticut. (f) requested information whether another individual assisted those elderly individuals: Margaret Bossing and Antoinette Demo in processing of the Social Security SS-5 applications, Taitz requested the name of the individual, who filled out the cards and the name of the individual, who processed them (g) Taitz provided a sworn affidavit of a licensed investigator Susan Daniels, showing that in national databases the name of Barack Obama is linked to SSN 485-40-5154, which is traced to Lucille T Ballantyne born 12.22.1912, deceased 09.13.1998, the mother of the Chief Actuary of the Social Security administration Harry C Ballantyne. In light of this fact Taitz requested information whether Harry C Ballantyne, Chief Actuary of the Social Security Administration, made any changes or alterations or additions to the Social Security records[SSN redacted, Doc] and/or[SSN redacted, Doc], [SSN redacted, Doc] and/or [SSN redacted, Doc]. In a separate letter Taitz requested for the SSA application for deceased Thomas Wood, SS number[SSN redacted, Doc]. SSA acknowledged Taitz requests, however no information was ever provided and no denial of the request was ever received in 120 days.
- In December of 2010 and January 2011 Taitz sent two follow up certified mail letters, where she stated that she treated lack of requested information as a denial and she demanded that SSA grant her FOIA request or officially deny it. None was received. As such SSA is in violation of the 5 U.S. §552 and Taitz requests an order and adjudication from this Honorable Court, directing Mr. Michael Astrue, Commissioner of the Social Security Administration to provide Taitz the information requested.
- Plaintiff alleges on information and belief that:
Pursuant to the Freedom and Information Act, 5 U.S.C.§552(a)(3), Plaintiff has a right of access to the documents requested, and Defendant has no legal basis for their actions in withholding the right of access to such documents.
Plaintiff has exhausted its administrative remedies as provided in the Freedom of Information Act and Agency regulations.
Wherefore, Plaintiff Prays this court:
- To take jurisdiction over this case;
- To order Defendants to release the requested documents to Plaintiff;
- To grant such other and further relief as the court may deem proper and just
02.06.2011
/s/ Dr. Orly Taitz ESQ
Apparently Orly’s crack investigators failed to tell her that she doesn’t need to file a FOIA request for the SSA-5 of a deceased individual. Anybody can order one, for a fee of $27. All you have to do is send a letter with whatever information is available on the Social Security Death Index and the check to this address:
Social Security Administration
OEO FOIA Workgroup
300 N. Green Street
P.O. Box 33022
Baltimore, Maryland 21290-3022
I know how she feels. I’m suing Forest Lawn to allow me to exhume the body of Moe Howard, so I can see how his body’s doing.
On a happier note, Abe Vigoda is still kicking.
I can help Orly out. Social Security has a hotline to report fraudulent use of a social security # 1-877-IDTHEFT (1-877-438-4338). No matter how sincere her beliefs that the President is usiing a phony SSN, that gives her no rights to his information, anymore than I could demand all of Orly’s tax returns if I believe she is not reporting all her income. I can call the IRS hotline-that’s it.
Aren’t you supposed to redact the social security numbers?
President Obama’s SSN is all over the Internet, so I am not really disclosing it. The other SSN’s in the complaint are either unidentified or that of a deceased person (and those are public information). I am not aware of any law that would require me to redact the numbers.
It’s a close call. I redacted some of the numbers and hit save before I changed my mind, so it’s a mess.
What will be interesting is to look at the version that was actually filed and see if Orly redacts the number, which she is required to do. The case is not on the Court ECF system as of this moment.
I always laugh at the “his number belonged to an elderly gentleman from Connecticut” thing.
Orly, birthers, et al: If you want a “smoking gun”, don’t complain about this number, identify the person you say had this number. Find the family and have them show his SS card (if they have it). If he’s dead most privacy laws no longer apply.
It’s like the birthers that say the COLB is forged. Don’t show ridiculous pixelated close-ups of the scan and claim the seal is wrong. Get a “real” non-forged Hawaiian COLB and compare it side by side to the scan. The fact that no birthers have done this is to me telling – that any that have tried have gotten exactly what Obama produced.
They want a signed sealed stamped long form. Hawaii says they don’t do that…birthers say that they do. Don’t claim “They do!” Get one and prove people wrong. Lakin’s brother admitted they tried and couldn’t get one.
They claim that in 1960 “anyone” could get a birth certificate from Hawaii that claimed birth in Hawaii even when born somewhere else. Show one. Doesn’t mean Obama’s is one, but it at least helps their argument.
The birthers don’t seem to get that anecdotes themselves may lead to evidence, but they aren’t evidence in and of themselves. The evidence is the identity of the “1890 Connecticut gentleman”. It’s a Hawaiian COLB that’s clearly different from Obama’s. It’s a stamped long form on security paper, and it’s a fraudulent-birth-location certificate from that time period. They can provide none of those, because they likely do not exist.
The President files federal and state tax returns every year, just like you and me. You can find all of them since he became a US Senator on line. Here is 2009 http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/president-obama-2010-complete-return.pdf
The IRS automatically matches the names and SSNs of the filers and dependents claimed. If they don’t match you will hear from them. If you don’t believe it, try it for yourself.
The one thing I love most about this latest screed (or is it a rant?) is that she points out that the birth announcements in the papers are not prima facie evidence. I guess she hasn’t looked at the bottom of the COLB, or where it says he was born in Honolulu.
That would mean that if Obama had a fraudulent number, he had to have been using the same fraudulent number all these years. If so, what would be the reason?
My friend’s 19 year old son was born in Hawaii. I’m tempted to have him request a copy of his long form to see what happens.
No, the IRS cross-checks the names on the return with the SSN database. If they don’t match, it spits the return out whether or not you have used that # before. The number he files under is his correct SSN, and is the same as he receives his government salary, royaity checks, investment income and any other income or expenses he reports on his return.
Could he have other SSNs under which he earns underground income that doesn’t get reported? Such illicit incomes tend not to be reported, so they really don’t need SSNs. Besides, he made over $ 5 million in legit income last year alone, and is a faiirly busy guy, so does Orly seriously propose he’s running a Nigerian bank acct scam out of the White House?
I would be very surprised if Obana has not requested and received a new SSN, so I doubt that any further damage can be done at this point.
Orly probably doesn’t comprehend that there are some of us who received our SSNs prior to the establishment of ZIP codes.
Certainly the IRS has a database of SS#s of the deceased, right? Not very complicated.
You mean like, someone who would have been born in 1890?
Not necessarily everyone. See http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rwguide/lesson10.htm
Could have easily been a typo and someone meant to enter 1980. If said person existed with that number don’t you think Orly would have found record of them by now?
There’s also the possibility that those databases are deeply flawed and contain many false positives because those companies sell off information without regard to the accuracy of the information.
Are you implying that there might be a flaw in capitalism?
Dead or alive doesn’t matter. If the name doesn’t match the SSN, they spit it out. If Obama filed under an SSN that was not his, the IRS would would reject his return. It wouldn’t matter if that number were unassigned or if the person it was assigned to were dead or alive.
Therefore, it is simply a fact that the SSN he files taxes under (and uses for all transactions reported on his return) is his legitimate SSN.
Oh certainly not Capitalism always provides an equal playing ground for everyone involved and no one ever gets screwed
My understanding is that the SSN in question belongs to someone who was registered with the name Barack Hussein Obama is not reported to be dead.
Thus, if Orly Taitz is correct in saying that the number was issued to an elderly gentleman, then Obama stole a Social Security Number from someone who happens to have the same name and who is 120 years old (but not yet noticed by the Guinness Book of World Records) and has got away with it.
Which is more plausible: The above scenario, or errors in the database from which Orly Taitz got her information?
I was referring to Orly’s FOIA request for the SSA-5 forms of Margaret Bossing, Antoinette Demo and Thomas Wood. Those people are deceased, so it is not necessary to file a FOIA request to obtain their SSA-5 forms. Anybody can order those forms.
A typo? Preposterous! According to birthers, only information that sheds legitimacy on Obama can possibly be a typo.
An example – the Indonesian school form which says he was an Indonesian citizen (regardless of Indonesian law at the time making that impossible) but that also says he was born in Hawaii. The former factoid, despite not being backed by law, is 100% ACCURATE by their standards, the latter is a typo or deliberate falsification that can be safely ignored.
That’s a very good rundown on the strengths and limitations of the Social Security Death Index.
I often tell people I can use it to confirm that someone is dead, but I can’t use it to confirm that someone is alive.
What we do know for certain is that Obama;s “Connecticut SSN” was issued when he was about 16 years old. If that SSN had ever been associated with another name, Orly’s investigators should have been able to come up with it.
Have we not thought of the possibility that Barack Obama is a vampire?
Please, don’t give the birthers any ideas.
I used to be under the mistaken impression that the first 3 digits of one’s SS number were a function of where that person was born. When I lived in Albuquerque back in the mid 70’s, I noticed that people’s SS numbers began with 585. I met someone there whose first 3 numbers of their SS number was nearly the same as mine that I received in NJ. I asked this person where they lived in NJ, and they told me that they never lived in NJ and had lived in New Mexico from the time they were born. Needless to say, that SS number myth was busted for me right then and there.
Over the years several things have come “to light” in cases I have worked on.
1. Social Security numbers are sometimes screwed up.
2 LEXIS NEXIS has a disclaimer that their information about people may not be accurate.
The record that Orly’s detective accessed has been reproduced in her various court filings. It lists three dates of birth associated with Obama’s SSN: his real date of birth, his real date of birth with the month and day switched and “1890” with no day or month.
In my experience with various computer systems, dates between 1890 and January 1, 1900 are sometimes used to represent a “blank” date. The 1890 entry is certainly spurious both because it lacks a month and a day, and because the SSN attributed to President Obama does not appear in the Social Security death index.
The only “question” is why President Obama has a SSN from the Connecticut series that should only be assigned to persons with Connecticut return addresses. The most plausible reason I have seen is that a clerk mistyped “0” for “9” in the zipcode changing Hawaii to Connecticut.
The most rudimentary knowledge about Social Security and Medicare would have made the ordinary person realize that a man born in 1890 would not be applying for the first time in 1976 for an SSN. Orly’s theory (if you could label it such) is that some guy in his mid 80s needed a SSN in order to claim Medicare benefits. But to be eligible, one must pay Medicare taxes for a minimum of 10 years. Unless the old guy was planning to work until age 96 it is highly improbable that an 86-year-old woke up one day and decided to get a SS account started in order to enter the workforce for the first time.
Could anyone attempt to explain why Obama would have several SSNs in his own name?
If you were going to commit fraud, wouldn’t it make basic sense to use different names to go along with those different SSNs?
You are absolutely correct.
If I were going to use your SSN, the last thing I would want to do is attach my real name to it. The whole point of stealing your identity would be to allow me to pass myself off as you.
Associating a new name with another person’s SSN only serves to cause the credit bureaus to raise a red flag. Identity thieves don’t want that to happen, because the whole point is to use another person’s good credit rating to obtain credit cards, loans, etc.
Some people do have more than one number associated with their names, but that usually is a result of a typographical error or the conflating of records of multiple people with the same or similar names.
It’s helpful to periodically remind people of the disclaimer which appears on all LexisNexis reports:
Important: The Public Records and commercially available data sources used on reports have errors. Data is sometimes entered poorly, processed incorrectly and
is generally not free from defect. This system should not be relied upon as definitively accurate. Before relying on any data this system supplies, it should be
independently verified.
Could you explain why you would believe anything Oily says?
“It’s helpful to periodically remind people of the disclaimer which appears on all LexisNexis reports:”
Thanks Rickey. I’ve had some prosecutors attempt to use LEXIS/NEXIS documents against clients until I’ve asked the judge to read the disclaimer and cited several rules of evidence that seemed applicable at the time.
I wouldn’t believe her if she told me it was dark at midnight. But then, I’m not a birther. They believe everything she says, with no BS filter whatsoever.
Can I explain why others believe her?
Birthers cling to every scrap of trash (what they like to call “evidence”), no matter how crazy, dirty or wrong, because it confirms their biases.
I would like to know who the hell Taitz thinks deputized her to act on behalf of the SSA or the DoJ. If someone thinks there’s a problem with someone’s SS number, they report it, and the SSA or DoJ investigates it. If there’s anything to it, they will prosecute; if there’s not, they will do nothing. It’s as simple as that
It helps to remind yourself that an important part of the birther mythos is that everyone who doesn’t immediately jump to do what the birthers think they should are cowardly traitors who need to be brought up on charges. The birthers see themselves as righting the wrongs of the world. They call each other “patriot”, “hero”, “brave”, and repeat over and over that they are the “real Americans”.
Thus, if Orly doesn’t take charge of the traitorous lying liars who lie at the SSA and/or the DoJ, who will?
> Have we not thought of the possibility that Barack Obama is a vampire?
Or, more likely, one of those foreign people (?) from “The Event”…
I bet the birthers, to whom all black people look alike, will have no trouble finding a photo from 1900 showing “Obama” in his 40s. Cue the madness…
Ha Wasn’t Obama in Pearl Harbor pushing FDR in his wheelchair?
You’re all wrong. Obama was born to the Easter Bunny, who was inseminated with genes from Elvis by Thetans at the behest of Xenu, who also inserted the birth notices in HI newspapers, ensuring that Tom Cruise would be recognized as the reincarnation of Christ, just in time to destroy the Antichrist, Obama.
Coincidence? I don’t think so.