The Test Was The Invoice
The Justice Department says a federal grand jury indicted Rajesh “Raj” Patel, a co-owner and chief operating officer of an Illinois clinical laboratory, in an alleged $66.2 million COVID-19 testing fraud scheme. The indictment is an allegation, and Patel is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
According to prosecutors, Patel’s laboratory created fake negative results for at least 380,000 PCR tests between May 2021 and April 2022. The tests were allegedly never performed, but the claims still went to the federal Health Resources and Services Administration Uninsured Program, which covered testing for people without health insurance.
Forty-Four Million Dollars Of “Negative”
The DOJ says HRSA paid the laboratory approximately $44.1 million on the allegedly fraudulent claims, while Patel personally obtained about $28 million. The purported patients were supplied through a staffing company, but prosecutors say many never existed or never provided specimens.
This is the rare business model where the product is a lab result, the raw material is imaginary, and the federal government is apparently asked to trust the spreadsheet because everybody is tired.
The Bottom Line
Patel faces five wire-fraud counts and up to 20 years in prison on each count if convicted. The case is a reminder that emergency programs can move money quickly—and that some people will try to move it even faster by putting a negative result on a test that never met a nose.
Source
U.S. Department of Justice: Illinois laboratory owner charged in $66M COVID-19 testing fraud scheme