A federal grand jury in Rhode Island has charged two former top executives of Colorado-based medical device company Zynex Inc. with fraud, accusing them of raking in hundreds of millions of dollars for unnecessary equipment and supplies.
Former Zynex CEO Thomas Sandgaard, 67, of Castle Rock, Colorado, and former Chief Operating Officer Anna Lucsok, 39, of Denver, each face nine counts of healthcare fraud, two counts of mail fraud and three counts of aggravated identity theft, among other charges, including conspiracy to commit securities fraud, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release.
Zynex markets noninvasive medical devices to manage pain, including its TensWave electrotherapy device, which received FDA clearance in 2024.
The indictment, unsealed Jan. 21, alleges that from 2017 through late 2025, the executives schemed to fraudulently collect more than $873 million from patients and private and federal healthcare payers for Zynex products, including more than $600 million for supplies that were unnecessary and improperly billed.
Prosecutors alleged the pair misled investors by using the billings to inflate revenue and drive up the company’s stock price. They also retaliated against journalists who investigated the billing practices, according to the release.
“This case represents a troubling abuse of patients seeking care, as well as the federal healthcare benefits system,” said U.S. Attorney Charles C. Calenda. “As alleged, the defendants’ conduct undermined programs intended to serve patients in need.”
According to prosecutors, supplies were shipped “in excessive volumes, sometimes as large as 32, 64 or 128 electrode pairs per patient each month.” Sandgaard and Lucsok continued to bill for the supplies even after being notified the practices were fraudulent, despite objections from employees and patient complaints to the Better Business Bureau, the release said.
“[T]hey kept mailing me supplies and I kept getting denials. I called today and was informed that I owe a tremendous amount of money,” one patient wrote in a complaint. “I live on 1,100.00 dollars a month and cannot [sic] afford much period … She informed me that there still would be a rental fee and supply fees. I told her that I could not even afford food at this point.”
When reporters questioned the business practices, Sandgaard hired someone to “attempt to disrupt their personal lives,” according to the release.
“These efforts included signing them up for therapy sessions and listing conditions such as erectile dysfunction,” the release said. “They also sent used female underwear to a reporter’s spouse at the reporter’s home, with a thank you card addressed to the spouse, detailing the reporter’s alleged ‘illicit behavior’—all apparently with the intent to convince the spouse that her husband was being unfaithful.”
Sandgaard and Lucsok no longer work at the company, and Sandgaard was removed as director and board chair following the indictment, Zynex said in a statement. The company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December, said it cooperated with the investigation and has not been charged.
“Over the last six months, Zynex has executed a complete overhaul of its leadership, compliance program, billing practices and operational controls,” Zynex Chief Legal Officer John Bibb said in the statement. “Under entirely new leadership we have delivered on our commitment to the highest integrity in our business practices and implemented rigorous compliance oversight.”
Sandgaard is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Denmark, and Lucsok is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Ukraine, the release said. The U.S. has sought to restrain the pair’s assets, which include luxury cars, a private jet, bank accounts and property in Colorado and Florida.
