Zishan Alvi, Covid-19 Fraud Scheme, Illinois 2024

A lab owner in Chicago has been caught in a Covid-19 testing fraud scheme that netted him $14 million, according to court documents.

Zishan Alvi, 45, owned and operated a laboratory in Chicago that performed testing for Covid-19. From February 2021 through February 2022, Alvi caused claims to be submitted to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for Covid-19 tests that were not performed as billed.

As part of the scheme, the laboratory released negative test results to patients, even though the laboratory either had not actually tested the specimens or the results were inconclusive. Alvi knew that the laboratory was releasing negative results for tests that were not performed or were inconclusive, but still caused the laboratory to submit claims to HRSA for those tests.

HRSA paid the laboratory more than $14 million as a result of the fraudulent claims Alvi caused to be submitted to HRSA.

Alvi pleaded guilty on Monday to one count of wire fraud, which is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced on February 7, 2025, by U.S. District Judge John J. Tharp, Jr. in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

The guilty plea was announced by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Nicole M. Argentieri, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Chad Yarbrough, Assistant Director of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division, and Mario Pinto, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG).

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jared Hasten and Misty Wright of the Northern District of Illinois, and Claire T. Sobczak, Trial Attorney of the Criminal Division's Fraud Section.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/chicago-lab-owner-pleads-guilty-14-million-covid-19-fraud-scheme