CHICAGO – A local man ran a COVID-19 testing lab where staff tested and gave false effects to others while the company raised $83 million from the federal government, and used the money for cars, stocks and cryptocurrency, according to a report. federal. accusation.
Zishan Alvi, 44, of suburban Inverness, faces 10 counts of cordon fraud and one count of theft of government funds, and federal prosecutors claim he received government cash by making false statements for tests that were never conducted, were done improperly or for which a visitor had already paid. Alvi co-owned and ran the LabElite testing company in Chicago.
Block Club reported in March 2022 that the FBI and other law enforcement agents raided LabElite’s Norwood Park headquarters and that the lab had accumulated court cases from federal and state officials.
The indictment against Alvi, released Monday night, alleges that he and others staged a “scheme to defraud and unload money and goods” through improper COVID-19 testing on some of the most difficult days of the pandemic.
Alvi’s lab sought reimbursement from the federal government for tests Alvi knew were performed, for tests the lab had “modified” so that the effects were unreliable and for tests already paid for through customers, prosecutors said.
Alvi also ordered the lab to give consumers a negative result if they paid for accelerated effects, even though it knew the test was not done on its sample, prosecutors said.
Alvi used the lab’s cash to buy several luxury cars and had more than $6 million in his private bank account when it was seized by the federal government, prosecutors said.
The “scheme” took position between February 2021 and February 2022, prosecutors said.
This includes the timing of Omicron’s surge, when COVID-19 cases skyrocketed and others desperately sought testing.
“The fees in this case allege that the defendant ignored considerations of public suitability in favor of non-public monetary gain. Doing so by undermining taxpayer-funded systems meant to combat the spread of the coronavirus is reprehensible,” acting U. S. Attorney Morris Pasqual said in a news release.
What Alvi and the lab did endangered other people and defrauded taxpayers, authorities said.
Alvi can face up to 20 years in criminal offenses for wire fraud and up to 10 years in criminal offenses if convicted of stealing public funds.
Alvi told lab workers to falsely mark that the tests had been done when he knew they had actually been discarded and analyzed, prosecutors said in the indictment. To hide the testing that the tests had been conducted, Alvi told workers to give consumers negative results, prosecutors said. .
When the tests were “finally,” the lab did not tell consumers they were positive because they had already falsely been told their result was negative, prosecutors said.
To boost lab profits and cut costs, Alvi told workers to replace their verification approach so they would use fewer devices to process people’s samples, though he knew it “made the effects of verification unreliable,” prosecutors said. The government reimburses them those checks, despite having used “this unreliable approach,” according to the indictment.
Alvi ordered the lab to hide the replacement in the testing approach from lab administrators so the lab can continue to claim government money for the replaced tests, prosecutors said.
From November 2021 to January 2022, the lab saw an influx of tests to process as the case skyrocketed in the rise of Omicron; however, the lab couldn’t process or buy as many tests, so Alvi told workers to get rid of samples that hadn’t been tested. Prosecutors said.
But between December and January, Alvi continued to ask the lab to seek federal reimbursement for tests that had been discarded, prosecutors said.
Alvi also paid “evidence collectors” to bring in his lab samples so he could get more cash from the federal government, prosecutors said.
Alvi deposited the “fraudulently obtained” budget into an account for the laboratory; He then transferred the budget to his account, which he used to buy things like cars, cryptocurrency and stocks, prosecutors said.
The indictment asks Alvi to lose the assets of the alleged crimes if convicted, up to the $83. 5 million prosecutors say the company received from the federal government.
Allegations that Alvi used the proceeds to buy a 2021 Mercedes-Benz, a 2021 Range Rover, a 2021 Lamborghini Urus, a 2021 Bentley and a 2022 Tesla.
Alvi also had more than $6. 8 million in his bank account when he was seized in February 2022, about $810,000 in an E*Trade account, about $500,000 in an investment account and more than $245,000 in a Coinbase account, prosecutors said. They asked that this cash be confiscated if convicted.
Read the indictment:
Block Club reported in March 2022 that federal fitness inspectors found that LabElite’s spouse site in Iowa failed to notify the government of thousands of check results, mishandled immediate checks, had no documented education for some members, and did not have a qualified manager on site.
The Illinois Attorney General’s Office and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have reported court cases about the company’s Norwood Park headquarters.
HELP US REPORT: Have you been tested for a COVID-19 pop-up?Click here to contact Block Club about your experience.
Several LabElite consumers told Block Club in 2022 that they had struggled: they said the effects were long overdue or never delivered, they were given effects that didn’t make sense, the company didn’t address their concerns, and some were told no. to enter your proof of insurance data. Among others.
LabElite is one of at least four Chicago-area testing companies under investigation: The Center for COVID Control closed after being raided by the FBI, and the company and its lab were prosecuted, fined, or otherwise faced disciplinary action in several states after the club’s Block report. O’Hare Clinical Lab and Northshore Clinical Lab have been cited at the highest point by federal authorities.
These 4 Chicago-area corporations have processed millions of tests for many sites in the United States. They earned more than $582 million from the federal government.
LabElite was registered in the state of Illinois in October 2020. The lab partnered with verification sites that collected immediate and PCR samples, and PCR samples were then processed through LabElite. It has processed tens of thousands of state checks, adding Illinois, Pennsylvania and Florida.
Debthrough Donovan, from the suburb of Berwyn, said in the past that he attended a mass testing event organized in the city and hosted through LabElite, where he had trouble filling out a registration form on his phone. An employee there gave Donovan a paper form to fill out and told her not to buy her insurance, she still wrote down the form of her insurance, she said. The employee told Donovan he would be faster if he didn’t provide him with insurance, he said.
An employee performing a PCR check for Donvan put a swab in his nose, got rid of it without delay and finished, Donovan said. The employee did not wave the swab or hold it in Donovan’s nose for several seconds, he said.
A quick check at the site showed Donovan tested positive, and she took a home check that also tested positive, she said. But LabElite then sent Donovan a PCR test result from the same occasion that it said was negative, he said.
A corporate spokesperson has in the past denied the customers’ allegations.
LEARN MORE
• Problematic medium for COVID company banned in Washington and fined in Wisconsin
• The Center for COVID Control is being sued by the state, which alleges that local property owners have diverted millions while conducting faulty tests.
• LabElite, the COVID lab raided by the FBI, failed to report thousands of verification results, according to the federal government
• FBI raids Chicago COVID testing company, which received $77 million from federal government
• COVID’s troubled environment will have to turn out to have followed state rules, California official says
• Could new legislation solve disruptions with COVID-19 pop-ups?Lawmaker proposes spending to restrict sites and labs
Center for COVID Control ‘simulated’ testing sites put others in danger with false results, garbage bag testing, allegations of new mixing
• COVID Control Center closes as part of federal and state investigations, workers said
• However, the COVID-19 testing company that received millions of dollars from the federal government is being investigated after patients said its effects were wrong.
• Another major COVID testing company, which received $186 million from the federal government, is under investigation as court cases pile up
• COVID Control Center headquarters raided through FBI
• COVID Control Center closed for ‘foreseeable future’ in Illinois amid federal and state investigations
• Center for COVID Control received $124 million from the federal government while telling staff to lie about effects and throw tests in the trash, former employees say
• False test results from the Center for COVID Control, Minnesota Attorney General says in new lawsuit
• COVID testing will disappear just when Chicagoans need them to the fullest, and despite predictions from officials for months.
• The COVID-19 chain has opened pop-ups in the United States. It is now temporarily final amid a federal investigation and ongoing complaints.
• Beware of COVID-19 verification pop-ups, Illinois attorney general warns
• Pritzker vows to shut down emerging COVID “Fly-By-Night” sites, calling them a “big deal”
• COVID Check Shortage Forces Chicagoans to Use “Hell-Hole” Pop-Up Sites with Unmasked Results and No Results
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