Orlando, Florida U.S. District Judge Paul Byron has sentenced Jeremy Kee Anderson (50, Minnesota) to 12 years and 7 months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and mail and wire fraud. Anderson had pleaded guilty on Feb. 26, 2021.
According to court documents, Anderson led a conspiracy that defrauded more than 200 victims, most of them elderly, and who had invested a good portion of their life savings, out of more than $10.3 million through investments offered in connection with a company called Tri-Med Corporation. Anderson was founder and principal owner of Tri-Med Corporation.
The investment scheme involved the alleged purchase of medical receivables by Tri-Med, and involved services that were provided to accident victims who were represented by personal injury attorneys. Payment of those medical receivables was supposed to be made from the proceeds of litigation or an insurance claim made against a general liability or automobile insurance policy. Each of the medical receivables was also supposed to be secured by a Letter of Protection, a letter that is provided by a patients personal injury attorney to a medical services professional as an incentive to provide services to a patient. The letter is a contract involving a patient, the patients attorney, and the medical services provider by which the patient and attorney agree to pay all or part of the total billed by the medical services provider from the proceeds of any pre-suit settlement, lawsuit settlement, or judgment that the patient may obtain.
To fund Tri-Meds alleged purchases of medical receivables, Anderson and his conspirators solicited individuals to participate in an investment program in which investors money would be used by Tri-Med to buy medical receivables backed by letters of protection. As part of their solicitations, Anderson and his conspirators represented to investors that that their investments were safe and that investor funds would be held in a trust account that was controlled by an attorney. To assure investors that their investments were secure, Tri-Med claimed that it would transfer its interest in the letter of protection to the investor in a document called an Assignment of Interest Certificate. Those representations were false.
Of the more than $17 million raised from over 200 investors, only approximately $2.7 million was ever transferred from Tri-Med to the attorneys trust account. The vast majority of the funds raised from investors never made it to that account. Over $6.5 million was paid to the sales people and the operators of Tri-Med or was used by them to benefit themselves or pay business expenses, while approximately $2.3 million was paid as distributions to investors as interest payments to make them believe that their investments were profitable. In fact, Tri-Med did not purchase enough medical receivables to secure the incoming investments, so it fabricated Assignment of Interest Certificates. The result was that more than 200 victims lost over $10.3 million in this scheme.
Anderson is the fourth person to be charged and sentenced as part of this conspiracy. Previously, the following individuals were charged and sentenced to federal prison terms for their roles in this conspiracy: Anthony Nicholas, Jr. (63, Hudson) received 11 years and 3 months and Eric Ager (78, Orlando) and Irwin Ager (84, Orlando) each were sentenced to 24 months imprisonment.
The Secret Service,along with our many law enforcement partners, including the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, remains committed to bringing fraudsters such as Anderson to justice, said U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Caroline OBrien Buster. To prey on our most vulnerable citizens is egregious, amoral and incredibly cruel.The Secret Service will not tolerate such crimes and will actively pursue justice, especially in these cases.
This case was investigated by the United States Secret Service and the State of Floridas Office of Financial Regulation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Shawn P. Napier and Roger B. Handberg, III.
Source: U.S. Secret Service