A Des Plaines, Ill. man pleaded guilty to his role in a $227 million Medicare fraud scheme that billed the program for over-the-counter COVID-19 test kits beneficiaries never requested or received.
Syed Kablazada, 36, pleaded guilty to two counts of healthcare fraud and faces up to 20 years in prison, according to an Oct. 30 Justice Department news release.
Mr. Kablazada and his co-conspirators acquired three Chicago-area laboratories over a six-month period beginning in January 2023. He paid about $11 million to a purported telemarketing company in Pakistan for the personally identifiable information of hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries. He then used that data to have the labs submit $227 million in false claims for test kits he knew were never ordered or shipped. Medicare paid about $136 million of those claims.
To hide their involvement, Mr. Kablazada and his co-schemers paid themselves through overseas money transfers and unlicensed money transmitters.
Under his plea agreement, Mr. Kablazada agreed to forfeit more than $46 million in fraud proceeds that law enforcement seized from 10 bank accounts. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
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