Texas attorney sentenced to prison in $26M comp fraud scheme

An attorney in Grand Prairie, Texas, was sentenced Thursday to 120 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $26,572,458.93 in restitution for his role in a scheme he ran along with his family members from July 2011 to September 2015 to fraudulently obtain more than $26 million from the Department of Labor Office of Workers Compensation Program, U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox of the Northern District of Texas in Dallas announced.

Tshombe Anderson, 55, who has been in custody since 2015 and pleaded guilty in August 2017 to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and subsequently agreed to forfeit $375,000 seized from his residence, a 2015 Mercedes and his share of the $8,383,075 that was seized from 25 bank accounts, according to a press statement from federal prosecutors.

His sister Lydia Bankhead, 63, his wife Brenda Anderson, 47, and his niece Lydia Taylor, 30, were also charged in the indictment returned in September 2015 and pleaded guilty to their roles in the scheme, according to the press statement. No announcement has been made in their sentencing.

“Anderson stole patient information from over 200 injured federal workers and then used the information to fraudulently bill OWCP, enriching himself and others with taxpayer dollars intended for the treatment of injured federal workers,” Steven Grell, special agent in charge of the Dallas Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, said in a press statement.