Two former executives at a Colorado-based medical device company have been charged in connection with orchestrating an alleged health care fraud scheme that federal prosecutors say raked in more than $800 million.
A federal grand jury in Rhode Island indicted Thomas Sandgaard, 67, a Castle Rock resident, and Anna Lucsok, 39, a Denver resident, with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, securities fraud and mail fraud, among other violations, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday.
The pair served as the chief executive officer and chief operating officer of Englewood-based Zynex Inc., respectively, a company that manufactures and sells medical devices used for pain management and rehabilitation.
From 2017 through 2025, Sandgaard and Lucsok “orchestrated a scheme to fraudulently obtain millions of dollars from government and private health care payors and patients, and to defraud investors in Zynex by concealing that the company’s billings and revenues were driven by fraud,” according to the indictment.
The Colorado executives collected more than $873 million for its products, including more than $600 million for supplies, investigators said. The company shipped patients excessive volumes of devices each month, using these fraudulent billings to artificially inflate the company’s financial reporting and its stock price, the government alleged.
When financial journalists began asking questions about Zynex’s business practices, Sandgaard hired someone to disrupt the reporters’ lives, the indictment states. These efforts included signing up reporters for therapy sessions and stating that they suffered from erectile dysfunction, and sending female underwear to a reporter’s spouse with a thank-you card.
Zynex filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December. The company listed more than $45 million in assets and more than $86 million in total debts.
Representatives from the company did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.
Sandgaard, a dual citizen of the United States and Denmark, previously owned the southeast London football club Charlton Athletic. He also owns a professional hockey team in Denmark, according to his LinkedIn page.
Lucsok is a dual citizen of the United States and Ukraine, according to prosecutors.
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