The former owner of a Chicago COVID-19 testing lab has pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, after his lab billed the federal government at least $14 million for COVID-19 tests that were never actually performed.
Zishan Alvi, 45 of Inverness, ran the lab on the Northwest Side from November 2020 through February 2022, offering PCR and rapid COVID-19 tests, according to the plea agreement filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
But starting in March 2021, when patients complained that their test results were taking too long, the lab told patients they were negative for the illness, even though their tests had not yet been processed, according to prosecutors. The lab also told patients they were negative when their results were actually inconclusive, according to the plea agreement.
During a surge of the omicron variant in fall 2021 through January 2022, the lab “received more patient specimens than it could test for COVID-19” and at times “test specimens were piled up in garbage bags” at the lab, according to the plea agreement.
At Alvi’s instruction, lab “employees threw away untested, weeks-old specimens, but released purported test results to patients as negative for COVID-19,” according to the plea agreement. Yet Alvi told employees and consultants to bill the federal Health Resources and Services Administration for tests that were never processed, according to prosecutors. The Health Resources and Services Administration was tasked with administering funds to cover COVID-19 tests for people without health insurance.
Attorneys for Alvi did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday afternoon.
Alvi was originally indicted on 10 counts of wire fraud and one count of theft of government funds.
As part of the plea agreement, Alvi has agreed to forfeit nearly $8 million as well as a 2021 Land Rover Range Rover. Alvi is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 7 for wire fraud, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.