The co-owner and operator of a Chicago-based laboratory company that operated COVID-19 testing sites during the pandemic faces federal charges that he defrauded a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agency out of more than $83 million with bogus or nonexistent testing.
Zishan Alvi, 44, of LabElite, was indicted by a federal grand jury on March 8 on 10 counts of wire fraud and one count of theft of government funds, according to the indictment from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. The business is referred to only as “Laboratory A” in the indictment.
Alvi is alleged to have devised a scheme to submit claims for PCR tests that weren’t performed for reimbursement under multiple federal programs set to pay for COVID-19 testing not covered under health insurance, including the Democrats’ Families First Coronavirus Response Act.
According to the indictment, his company often provided COVID-19 test results to customers for tests that were never conducted.
