The owner of two allegedly fraudulent COVID-19 testing labs pleaded not guilty to federal charges connected to what the Justice Department said is a scheme that funneled more than $290 million in federal funds for testing that never occurred.
Mahmood Kahn, 36, entered a plea in federal court in Chicago after being arrested in June in Texas, according to the Chicago Tribune. According to court documents reviewed by Becker’s, Mr. Khan owned and operated labs in Texas as part of a conspiracy to submit false reimbursement claims for COVID-19 testing on samples that were never collected, mostly from uninsured patients.
Mr. Khan is one of four defendants, one of whom is Anosh Ahmed, the former CFO of Loretto Hospital in Chicago, whom prosecutors have said orchestrated the scheme. Mr. Ahmed, who faces charges related to allegedly embezzling $15 million from the hospital, has since fled to Dubai.
The indictment alleges Mr. Khan, Mr. Ahmed and Mohamed Sirajudeen and Suhaib Chaudhry used testing labs in Illinois and Texas to submit nearly $900 million in fraudulent claims to the federal government between April 2021 and June 2022.
