Cody Lee Anderson, 38, of Aiken, has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit bank fraud. His co-defendant, Thomas Allen Bateman, 51, also from Aiken, received the same sentence earlier this year.
Investigators found that during the pandemic a will was executed by an elderly woman in Aiken. The document stated that her entire estate, valued at about $20 million, would go to Thomas Allen Bateman Jr. Cody Lee Anderson was named as the personal representative and stood to receive a fee of 5%, which amounted to $1 million. Authorities determined that the 88-year-old woman did not have the mental capacity to make informed decisions about her assets.
United States District Judge Joseph F. Anderson Jr. sentenced Anderson to 24 months in prison and ordered three years of supervised release after his term. Bateman received an identical sentence. There is no parole in the federal system.
The FBI Columbia Field Office and the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office Vulnerable Adults and Medicaid Provider Fraud unit investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Scott Matthews and Winston Holliday are prosecuting.
