The Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged two Illinois men with orchestrating a massive $227 million Medicare fraud scheme.
Fake COVID Tests, Real Charges
Syed Murtuza Kablazada (34) and Syed Mehdi Hussain (32) allegedly ran medical labs that submitted fraudulent Medicare claims for COVID-19 tests that were never actually administered. The pair allegedly used a network of foreign nationals as front owners for the labs, planning for them to leave the country if the scheme was discovered.
A Scheme of Deception
To fuel their scam, Kablazada and Hussain allegedly purchased the names of hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries from a marketing company. The labs rarely, if ever, provided any COVID-19 testing services to these beneficiaries.
Justice Department Response
Matthew R. Galeotti, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, stated that the defendants used a complex scheme involving multiple labs to submit over $200 million in false Medicare claims. He emphasized the harm caused by such fraud, diverting taxpayer money and resources from those who truly need them. The DOJ vowed to continue aggressively prosecuting these types of crimes.
