A Maryland man received more than $270,000 in Social Security disability and auxiliary benefits while concealing two cleaning businesses, work and income from the agency, federal prosecutors say. A judge has sentenced Andrew Langford to eight months in prison and three years of supervised release for wire fraud.
The benefits ran from 2014 through 2021
Social Security records showed Langford received more than $270,000 from January 2014 through May 2021, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Maryland. He had applied for disability benefits in 2008 and later sought child auxiliary payments for three minor children. Social Security told him that payments would begin and that a return to work or improvement in health had to be reported.
The criminal case was not based merely on a beneficiary earning some income. Prosecutors said Langford hid business ownership, work and substantial earnings while making false statements when the agency asked about them. That alleged concealment became the basis for the wire-fraud prosecution and conviction.
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Program context is available from Social Security’s disability-benefits page and the inspector general’s fraud portal.
Two companies appeared in state records
Langford operated NDA Cleaning Services LLC in Maryland and CK Janitors Inc. in Virginia. The case record says he used an IRS system to obtain employer identification numbers for the businesses but did not report his return to work. Maryland filings listed him in connection with NDA, while Virginia corporation records listed him as director and chief executive of CK Janitors for part of the period.
When a Social Security employee asked about the businesses in August 2020, prosecutors said Langford denied knowing them and maintained that he had last worked in 2008. Those statements mattered because they went beyond a paperwork delay. They allegedly contradicted registration documents and income information held by government agencies.
Tax records supplied an independent trail
IRS information showed Langford earned more than $100,000 in each of tax years 2012, 2014 and 2016. Social Security used earnings records during a continuing disability review after required documents were not returned. The agency proposed ending benefits in January 2020 and later issued notices saying disability and child auxiliary payments had been overpaid.
The timing illustrates why wage and business data can take years to reconcile with benefit files. A beneficiary may receive monthly payments while reviews, employer reports and tax records arrive on different schedules. In a fraud case, prosecutors must still show knowing concealment or false representations, not simply that databases updated at different times.
Work rules are not a blanket ban on employment
Disability programs contain work incentives, reporting requirements and tests that can allow some earnings while protecting eligibility during transitions. The case does not establish that any job automatically ends disability benefits. It concerns a recipient who the government says owned businesses, earned six-figure income in multiple years and denied the activity when questioned.
That distinction protects legitimate beneficiaries from drawing the wrong lesson. The measurable financial finding is the more than $270,000 the government says was improperly received. The public release does not break that sum into the defendant’s disability checks and the auxiliary payments issued for his children.
The September sentence is the current event
Judge Lydia K. Griggsby imposed the eight-month prison term on September 1, 2026. Three years of supervised release will follow. The Justice Department announced the sentence with the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
The conduct and payment period are older, but the sentence is new. Because the matter reached judgment, the headline can state that Langford collected the benefits and hid businesses rather than treating those facts as unresolved charging allegations. The September 1 primary source supports the business names, income evidence, benefit total and final sentence.
Auxiliary benefits broadened the payment stream
Langford’s children received auxiliary payments tied to his disability record. Those payments help explain why the government’s total is described as disability and child benefits rather than one worker’s monthly check alone. Auxiliary benefits can be valid even though the money traces to a disabled worker’s entitlement, but the underlying entitlement must remain accurate.
The release does not allocate the $270,000 between Langford and the children. It would be inaccurate to characterize the entire amount as cash deposited for his personal use without that breakdown. The prosecution instead focuses on the false statements and hidden work that allowed the benefit stream to continue.
Agency notices created clear reporting points
Social Security advised Langford when benefits began that work and health changes had to be reported. Years later, a continuing disability review requested documents, and the agency proposed stopping benefits when the material did not arrive. Those notices gave investigators evidence that the reporting obligation and review were not hidden.
Business registrations and IRS income records then supplied independent evidence. The combination of direct notices, corporate filings, earnings data and an alleged denial of the businesses is stronger than any single mismatch. It is also what separates this conviction from ordinary confusion over disability work incentives.
Different Social Security Rules After 65
This case is about concealed work during disability eligibility, not ordinary retirement benefits. Older households separately encounter SSI after 65, Extra Help and Medicare Savings Programs, each using its own income rules and an application that is not completed automatically.
The 69-page Benefits Checklist covers 11 programs, prints their 2026 income limits and includes a 50-state phone directory; the download also comes with a printable tracker.
Read the program distinctions in The Benefits Checklist.
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by a human editor. Figures are linked to their primary sources; where a claim could not be verified from the public record, we say so.
