Illinois Laboratory Owner Charged in $66.2 Million COVID-19 Testing Fraud Scheme: Prosecutors Allege Fake Results for 380,000 Tests Never Performed
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on October 20 that a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Illinois had returned an indictment the day before charging laboratory owner Rajesh “Raj” Patel, 52, of Schaumburg, Illinois, with a $66.2 million fraud scheme in which he allegedly billed for hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 tests that were never performed.
According to the indictment, between May 2021 and April 2022, Patel created fake “negative” test results for at least 380,000 PCR tests on specimens provided by Meridian, his laboratory. The laboratory never actually performed these tests, and, prosecutors allege, many of the supposed patients never existed or never provided test specimens to Meridian. The Justice Department says Patel created the fake results so the laboratory could fraudulently bill the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Uninsured Program, a federally funded program that covered the costs of COVID-19 tests for people without health insurance. The laboratory submitted approximately $66.2 million in fraudulent claims to HRSA, HRSA paid the laboratory approximately $44.1 million, and Patel personally obtained approximately $28 million in proceeds from the scheme.
Patel is charged with five counts of wire fraud. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each count.
“This defendant allegedly exploited a global crisis for personal gain, fabricating hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 tests – then billing the taxpayer for it,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division (Fraud Division). “Every dollar taken from a federal health care program is a dollar taken from the American people. The Fraud Division will find those who steal from taxpayers, and we will prosecute them.” FBI Chicago Special Agent in Charge Ryan Whalen said fighting financial fraud and holding accountable those who unlawfully obtain federal assistance for personal profit remains a top priority for the FBI, adding that pandemic assistance programs were designed to provide a lifeline to vulnerable members of society and that those entrusted with federal health care dollars have a responsibility to bill honestly and accurately.
The FBI Chicago Field Office and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) investigated the case, which was announced together with HHS-OIG Special Agent in Charge Thomas Ethridge. Trial Attorney Claire Sobczak Pacelli of the Fraud Division’s Health Care Fraud Section is prosecuting the case. The Justice Department notes that an indictment is merely an allegation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The department added that its Fraud Division, created on April 7, is focused on investigating and prosecuting fraud against the American people, in support of the government-wide Task Force to Eliminate Fraud chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance.
According to court documents, Patel was the co-owner and chief operating officer of a clinical laboratory in Hillside, Illinois, that processed PCR tests during the COVID-19 pandemic. The scheme billed the Health Resources and Services Administration's uninsured program roughly $66.2 million in false claims and obtained about $44.1 million, of which Patel personally pocketed approximately $28 million. Each wire fraud count carries a maximum of 20 years in prison. An indictment is merely an allegation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 位于芝加哥的 Dirksen 联邦法院大楼，伊利诺伊州北区联邦地区法院设于此，本案起诉书由该区联邦大陪审团提出。照片：Ken Lund 摄，CC BY-SA 2.0，经维基共享资源／The Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago, home to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, where a federal grand jury returned the indictment. Photo: Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
