An Illinois man has pleaded guilty to his involvement in a COVID-19 testing fraud scheme, according to court documents. Zishan Alvi, 45, of Inverness, owned and operated a laboratory in Chicago that conducted COVID-19 testing. From February 2021 through February 2022, Alvi submitted claims to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for tests that were not performed as billed.
As part of the scheme, the laboratory released negative COVID-19 test results to patients despite not having tested the specimens or when results were inconclusive. Alvi was aware that the lab was issuing these false negative results but still submitted claims to HRSA. Consequently, HRSA paid over $14 million due to these fraudulent claims.
Alvi has pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and is scheduled for sentencing on February 7, 2025. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine his sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Acting U.S. Attorney Morris Pasqual for the Northern District of Illinois; Assistant Director Chad Yarbrough of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division; and Special Agent in Charge Mario Pinto of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) announced this development.
The FBI and HHS-OIG are handling the investigation.
Trial Attorney Claire T. Sobczak from the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jared Hasten and Misty Wright from the Northern District of Illinois are prosecuting this case.
The Fraud Section leads efforts against health care fraud through its Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program. Since March 2007, this program has charged over 5,400 defendants who collectively billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $27 billion. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are also working with HHS-OIG to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes.
More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.