This Is SandGaard
The CEO of Zynex Medical was indicted for health care and securities fraud. It could mark the end of his rock and roll fantasy.
“The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and … ” – Nigel Tufnel, lead guitarist, Spinal Tap.
The hardest rockin’ band you’ve never heard of suffered an unfortunate setback on the road to international stardom this week with a federal grand jury indictment against its lead guitarist.
In the annals of rock and roll history, there has never been an excess like SandGaard.
Band founder Thomas Sandgaard, 67, of Castle Rock, Colo., also founded Englewood, Colo.-based Zynex Medical in 1996, which once boasted more than 1,000 employees.
His LinkedIn profile claims he’s also the majority owner of the Odense Bulldogs, a professional hockey team in Denmark, where he has dual citizenship. He’s also the past owner of the Charlton Athletic, a south-east London soccer team, according to the BBC.
Prosecutors allege Sandgaard fraudulently over-billed the U.S. government, private insurers and patients to the tune of $873 million and defrauded Zynex investors with these inflated revenues.
The feds are now trying to seize his rock-star trappings, which include a Porsche, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz, real estate in Colorado and Florida, multiple bank accounts and a Gulfstream G-IV aircraft.
No word on what happens to his guitars.
The indictment also names Zynex Chief Operating Officer Anna Lucsok, 39, of Denver, who has dual citizenship in Ukraine.
Her claim to fame includes a ranking among “The Top 50 Women Leaders in Healthcare Technology of 2024,” – at least according to a suck-up article in an industry publication called, “The Healthcare Technology Report.”
Sangaard and Lucsok have yet to enter a plea or comment.
Zynex, a publicly traded company that filed bankruptcy in December, issued a statement saying Sangaard and Lucsok are no longer with the company, that the company itself has not been charged, and that the company is cooperating with the Department of Justice and regulators.
Zynex sells electronic devices for pain management, and patients say it’s a pain to deal with. Their complaints go like this:
Order one thing from Zynex, and you’ll keep getting more. Your insurance provider will keep getting billed and so will you – until it all gets so ridiculous.
“I have personally received over 640 pairs of electrodes from Zynex for a single prescription,” one customer complained to the Federal Trade Commission, “enough for 18 years of constant use.”
And the zany rock-and-roll antics don’t end there, music fans.
According to the indictment:
“SANDGAARD hired someone to attempt to disrupt the lives of the reporters with the intent of retaliating against them and deterring them from further alerting the markets to these issues. These efforts included having someone sign the reporters up for therapy sessions without their knowledge or permission and listing their issues as including erectile disfunction. They also included sending used female underwear to one reporter’s spouse at the reporter’s home and sending the spouse a thank you card detailing the reporter’s alleged “illicit behavior” – all apparently with the intent to convince the spouse that her husband was being unfaithful.”
Call it a novel twist on a music industry trope. While some rockers endure fans throwing their panties at the stage, Sandgaard allegedly throws them at investigative reporters.
It’s all part of his rock and roll fantasy. It’s all part of his rock and roll dream. And it’s also part of the reason why our medical bills continue to soar.
