Anosh Ahmed, MD, former CFO and COO of Chicago-based Loretto Hospital, pleaded not guilty Aug. 31 to a 15-count fraud and money laundering indictment connected to COVID-19 testing fraud claims, the Chicago Tribune reported.
“Nice to see you here in the flesh with your lawyers,” U.S. District Judge Sharon Coleman of the Northern District of Illinois said to Dr. Ahmed during his arraignment, the Tribune reported.
Dr. Ahmed had been detained in Serbia since late 2025 while contesting extradition, but is now being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago, according to the Federal Bureau of Prison records.
Dr. Ahmed’s June 2025 original indictment claimed that he and co-defendants, Mahmood Khan and Suhaib Chaudhry, submitted roughly $894 million in false COVID-19 testing claims that resulted in approximately $293 million in fraudulent payments. He also faces a separate case connected to his time as Loretto Hospital COO and CFO from December 2017 to March 2021.
Dan Webb, Dr. Ahmed’s attorney, told the court the defense is working to resolve the case with a plea deal “reasonably quickly,” with a likely return to court this fall to ask for either a change of plea hearing or a renewed motion over alleged prosecutorial misconduct before the grand jury that indicted Dr. Ahmed. He will remain in custody after waiving his right to a detention hearing, the publication said.
Should Dr. Ahmed be convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison for his most serious counts, including forfeiture of more than $50 million in cash and other assets, the publication said.
The news comes after George Miller Jr., the former CEO of Loretto Hospital in Chicago, entered into an agreement in late August to defer prosecution on a federal conspiracy charge connected to a separate embezzlement scandal at the hospital.
Mr. Miller, who exited the hospital in April 2022, was charged in an October 2024 federal indictment. Prosecutors claimed that he conspired with Dr. Ahmed to direct hospital vendor contracts and other hospital business to specific medical supply companies controlled by co-defendant Sameer Suhail, MD, who owned the companies. Both Mr. Miller and Dr. Ahmed allegedly received a share of around $19 million in payments that the hospital made to Dr. Suhail’s companies from 2018 to 2021.
Becker’s has reached out to Mr. Webb for comment and will update this story should more information become available.
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