CHICAGO — A Chicago laboratory owner has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison for orchestrating a $14 million COVID-19 testing fraud scheme, according to federal prosecutors.
Zishan Alvi, 46, of Inverness, ran a lab that submitted fake claims to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) between 2021 and 2022. The lab fraudulently billed the federal program for COVID-19 tests that were either never conducted or conducted improperly — a scheme that has now resulted in a lengthy prison term.
The sentencing was first reported by WGN-TV.
Fake Test Results and Fraudulent Billing
According to court documents, Alvi’s lab repeatedly issued negative test results to patients even when samples hadn’t been processed or were scientifically unreliable. In some cases, test specimens were deliberately diluted to cut operational costs, rendering the results medically useless.
Despite this, the lab billed the federal HRSA program and ultimately received more than $14 million in reimbursements during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cover-Up and Legal Fallout
Investigators found that Alvi also instructed his lab personnel and directors to cover up the inconsistencies, hiding the scale of the fraud from oversight bodies. He later admitted guilt in a plea deal, pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud in September 2024.
U.S. District Judge John J. Tharp Jr. handed down the seven-year sentence, also ordering Alvi to:
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Pay back $14,366,244 in restitution
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Forfeit $6.8 million in seized funds
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Surrender a 2021 Range Rover HSE and over $630,000 in an E-Trade account\
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Public Trust Breach Amid a Pandemic
The case underscores the vulnerabilities in emergency federal relief programs and the impact of fraudulent actors during national crises. Authorities emphasized the importance of maintaining public trust and ensuring that health services are scientifically accurate and ethically run.
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