DALLAS – The U.S. government moved to seize the assets of Dallas attorney Tshombe Anderson after Anderson pled guilty Aug. 3 to conspiracy to commit health care fraud in a case that also involves four of his family members.
The group allegedly filed approximately $26 million in fraudulent claims with the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Workers Compensation Program (OWCP), under the guise of providing medical equipment to patients, some of whom according to the indictment didn’t want or need the equipment provided.
The OWCP was allegedly billed for claimants who had been supplied with medical equipment unrelated to and useless for their actual medical condition, for example, a leg brace for a person with a back ailment. Others allegedly were not sent medical equipment as promised, or were provided medical equipment months after OWCP officials had been told the items had been delivered.
In addition to Anderson, his sister Lydia Bankhead, his wife Brenda Anderson, sister-in-law Janet Anderson and his niece Lydia Taylor also face charges of billing fraud.
Anderson, 54, of Grand Prairie pled guilty to one count of conspiracy before Judge Barbara Lynn of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on Aug. 3. Currently held in custody, Anderson faces sentencing on Nov. 29. He could serve up to 10 years in a federal prison and pay a fine of $25,000.
The other four co-defendants in the indictment face a trial for their part in the case on Sept. 25.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, from 2011 to 2015, Anderson used patient records from the Union Treatment Centers, a Dallas-based treatment and rehab facility, to fraudulently bill the OWCP through two companies he had formed, Union Medical Supplies and Equipment and Skycare Medical Supplies and Equipment.
Anderson, who had previously worked as an attorney for the Union Treatment Centers, allegedly used the proceeds from the fraudulent transactions for his own personal use or laundered it through his private attorney practice.
Court officials ordered a preliminary forfeiture of Anderson’s assets (upon conviction) including $375,000 from his residence, $295,000 from the residence of Lydia Bankhead, and a number of vehicles owned by Anderson, Bankhead and Brenda Anderson, including a 2014 Model Jeep Cherokee, Lexus RX450 and a 2015 Mercedes S550.
In addition, properties located in Grand Prairie and Russellville, Arkansas will be seized as well as $8.3 million in bank accounts with the Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase Bank held in the names of the defendants and also under their company, Skycare Medical Supplies LLC.