Overview
- Rajesh “Raj” Patel was indicted Wednesday on five counts of wire fraud after prosecutors say his Illinois laboratory billed for at least 380,000 PCR tests that were never performed.
- Authorities say the lab submitted about $66.2 million in fraudulent claims to the HRSA Uninsured Program, received roughly $44.1 million in payments, and that Patel personally obtained about $28 million.
- Prosecutors allege the scheme used a medical staffing company that was paid tens of millions for patient specimens and data that often did not exist, and that laboratory staff then generated fabricated negative test results to support reimbursement claims.
- The FBI’s Chicago Field Office and the HHS Office of Inspector General investigated the case and the Justice Department’s Health Care Fraud Section is prosecuting, with each wire fraud count carrying a maximum 20-year sentence if convicted.
- The indictment adds to a broader federal push to recover pandemic-era losses and could prompt tighter oversight of emergency healthcare programs after earlier Illinois prosecutions for similar COVID testing schemes.