Two Charged in $227 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme over COVID-19 Test Kits Beneficiaries Never Requested
The Justice Department announced on May 22, 2025, that Syed Murtuza Kablazada, 34, of Arlington Heights, in Cook County, Illinois, and Syed Mehdi Hussain, 32, of Carol Stream, in neighboring DuPage County, were arrested the previous day on criminal charges related to their alleged submission of more than $227 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare. The two men allegedly owned and operated purported medical laboratories that submitted claims for over-the-counter COVID-19 test kits that beneficiaries had allegedly been provided.
According to court documents, the defendants installed foreign nationals to act as nominee owners at the laboratories to submit fraudulent claims, with the understanding that the nominee owners would flee the United States when they learned their laboratory was under investigation. Prosecutors allege the defendants rarely provided COVID-19 test kits to Medicare beneficiaries, but instead submitted reimbursement claims on behalf of beneficiaries who had not requested the kits, including individuals who were deceased. The defendants also allegedly paid a marketing company to provide the names of hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries, which they used to submit the fraudulent claims.
In total, between September 2022 and June 2023, the defendants' laboratories billed Medicare approximately $227 million in fraudulent claims, of which Medicare paid approximately $136 million. Matthew R. Galeotti, head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, said the defendants allegedly used straw owners at multiple laboratories to cause the submission of more than $200 million in fraudulent claims for COVID-19 test kits, and that health care fraud squanders taxpayer money and diverts limited resources from those who need them most. Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Chicago Field Office, said the overwhelming fraud uncovered in the investigation showed a blatant disregard for Medicare and put all patients at risk. Christian J. Schrank, Deputy Inspector General for Investigations at the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, said submitting fraudulent claims for products or services not dispensed or not medically necessary undermines the integrity of a program intended to protect the most vulnerable.
Kablazada and Hussain are each charged by indictment with four counts of health care fraud; if convicted, they face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on each count. The FBI's Chicago Field Office and HHS-OIG are investigating the case. Trial Attorney Andres Q. Almendarez of the Criminal Division's Fraud Section is prosecuting, with assistance from Assistant U.S. Attorney Jasmina Vajzovic for the Northern District of Illinois. An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
(Source: U.S. Department of Justice)
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于伊利诺伊州芝加哥（Chicago）的 Everett M. Dirksen 美国法院大楼（资料图），本案起诉书即向设于该楼的伊利诺伊北区联邦地区法院提交。Ken Lund 摄，CC BY-SA 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Everett M. Dirksen United States Courthouse in Chicago, Illinois (file photo); the indictment was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois housed there. By Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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