NEW YORK – The US Department of Justice said Monday that an Illinois lab owner has pleaded guilty to participating in a COVID-19 testing fraud scheme.
According to the DOJ, Zishan Alvi owned and operated a Chicago-based lab that submitted claims to the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for COVID-19 tests that were not performed as billed.
Between February 2021 and February 2022, the lab released negative COVID-19 test results to patients even though it had not actually performed the tests or knew that the results were inconclusive. HRSA paid the lab more than $14 million for the fraudulent test claims Alvi submitted, the DOJ said.
Alvi pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 7, 2025, and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.