A federal investigation of a suspected COVID-19 testing fraud-and-kickback scheme involving Chicago’s Loretto Hospital has netted the indictment of a former Chicago-area resident living in Florida, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Jamil Elkoussa, 35, of Orlando, Fla., and previously of Orland Park, Ill., was charged with five counts of wire fraud in a 12-page indictment filed by the Justice Department June 23. He is also the eighth person charged in the department’s broad investigation of pandemic-era activity at the West Side safety-net hospital.
The indictment alleges Mr. Elkoussa operated Meridian Medical Staffing, which purported to contract with COVID-19 test collection sites in Illinois and Florida that collected specimens for PCR tests, including Loretto.
Mr. Elkoussa is accused of causing a laboratory in Hillside, Ill., to submit approximately $233 million in fraudulent claims to the Health Resources and Services Administration for specimens purportedly collected from patients, according to the Justice Department.
The indictment alleges these actions resulted in approximately $154 million in HRSA payments to the laboratory, for which Mr. Elkoussa received approximately $60.3 million.
Becker’s reached out to Loretto and will update the story if a comment is received.
The indictment is part of the Justice Department’s 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown investigation, which resulted in charging 324 defendants in schemes involving more than $14.6 billion in intended losses to Medicare, Medicaid and other government programs.
The former CFO of Loretto has also been charged with multiple others as part of the investigation.
Anosh Ahmed, MD, who served as the hospital’s CFO and COO before resigning in 2021 amid scrutiny tied to COVID-19 operations, was charged, as were Mohamed Sirajudeen, who owned and operated Chicago Polyclinic, a management company, as well as Mahmood Khan and Suhaib Chaudhry, who were both employed by a Houston-area company Dr. Ahmed formed following his resignation. Mr. Khan has pleaded not guilty to federal charges.
