Syed Kablazada of Des Plaines, Ill., pleaded guilty Oct. 30 to two counts of healthcare fraud in a $227 million Medicare fraud scheme that billed for COVID-19 test kits beneficiaries never requested or received.
Over six months starting in January 2023, Mr. Kablazada and his co-conspirators acquired three Chicago-area laboratories: Chicago Care, V Care and Al-Ameer, the Justice Department said.
Mr. Kablazada paid about $11 million to a purported telemarketing company based in Pakistan for the personally identifiable information of hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries. He then caused the labs to use that data to submit $227 million in false claims for over-the-counter COVID-19 test kits. Medicare paid about $136 million, or roughly 60% of the amount billed.
To hide their involvement, the defendants were said to have paid themselves through overseas money transfers and unlicensed money transmitters. They used part of the proceeds to buy luxury vehicles.
Under his plea agreement, Mr. Kablazada will forfeit more than $46 million in fraud proceeds that law enforcement seized from 10 bank accounts. He faces up to 20 years in prison and will be sentenced at a later date.
The FBI Chicago Field Office and HHS’ Office of Inspector General investigated the case. The Justice Department’s Health Care Fraud Section is prosecuting it, with help from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois.
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