Illinois Laboratory Owner Charged in $66,000,000 COVID-19 Testing Fraud Scheme, Faces Decades Behind Bars

Federal prosecutors have charged an Illinois laboratory owner with running a large-scale scheme to submit claims for COVID-19 tests that were never performed. Rajesh “Raj” Patel, 52, of Schaumburg, faces five counts of wire fraud after the laboratory allegedly billed the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Uninsured Program for at least 380,000 nonexistent tests between May 2021 and April 2022, says the U.S. Department of Justice. HRSA is a federally funded program that covered the costs of COVID-19 tests for individuals without health insurance coverage. The laboratory paid tens of millions to a staffing company for patient specimens and data that often did not exist, then generated false negative results to support the claims.

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