Aaron Rossi, Healthcare Fraud, Illinois 2023

Aaron Rossi, 40, of Morton, Illinois, is facing serious time after being hit with a six-count indictment for allegedly swindling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the State of Illinois and private health insurance companies through a COVID-19 testing scheme.

The indictment, handed down by a federal grand jury in Illinois, alleges that Rossi, CEO of Reditus Laboratories, LLC, defrauded the State and private insurance companies out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by mischaracterizing services and double-billing for COVID-19 PCR tests.

Reditus, a full-service pathology laboratory based in Pekin, Illinois, was contracted by the State to provide COVID-19 testing services. However, according to the indictment, Rossi developed a scheme to bill both the State and private insurance companies for the same tests, resulting in Reditus receiving double payments.

The indictment also alleges that Rossi established policies and procedures at Reditus that directly benefited himself financially, inflating payments for services that were not actually rendered. This conduct is the basis for the six counts of healthcare fraud alleged in the indictment.

In addition to the healthcare fraud charges, Rossi is also accused of mail and wire fraud, allegedly billing both the State and private insurance companies for the same COVID-19 tests. If convicted, Rossi faces maximum statutory penalties of up to 10 years imprisonment for each of the healthcare fraud charges, and up to 20 years imprisonment for each of the mail and wire fraud charges.

Rossi has been in custody since September 2023, pending sentencing on a separate case in which he pleaded guilty to charges of filing false federal tax returns and taking funds from his former employer, Central Illinois Orthopedic Surgery in Bloomington.

The case investigation was conducted by the United States Postal Inspection Service; the Internal Revenue Service; the Federal Bureau of Investigation—Springfield Division; the Department of Labor—Employee Benefit Security Administration; Office of Personnel Management—Office of Inspector General; and Department of Health and Human Services—Office of Inspector General.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Douglas F. McMeyer and Tanner K. Jacobs represent the government in the prosecution.

Members of the public are reminded that an indictment is merely an accusation; the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.