Illinois Lab Owner Faces 20 Years In $66M COVID Fraud Case

India-West News Desk

CHICAGO, IL – An Illinois laboratory received $44.1 million in federal payments after submitting $66.2 million in fraudulent claims for COVID-19 tests that were never performed, according to an indictment against its co-owner, Rajesh “Raj” Patel, 52, of Schaumburg.

A federal grand jury in the Northern District of Illinois indicted Patel on five counts of wire fraud October 19, the US Department of Justice announced the following day. Patel allegedly obtained about $28 million from the scheme. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each count.

According to court documents, Patel generated fake negative results for at least 380,000 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests between May 2021 and April 2022. The laboratory did not perform the tests but used the results to submit claims to the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Uninsured Program, which covered COVID-19 testing for people without health insurance.

Patel was co-owner and chief operating officer of a clinical laboratory in Hillside, Illinois. The alleged scheme involved Meridian Medical Staffing Inc., which entered into an agreement with the laboratory around March 2021. The laboratory paid Meridian tens of millions of dollars to collect specimens and provide patient information. Court documents allege that many of the purported patients did not exist or had never provided specimens to Meridian.

The Justice Department said its Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program, operating in nine federal districts, has charged more than 6,200 defendants since 2007 in cases involving more than $45 billion in billings to federal health care programs and private insurers.