Illustrative archive photograph of a COVID-19 rapid test, not evidence from the case. Photo: adrian vieriu / Pexels. Cropped under the Pexels License.
WASHINGTON – An Illinois resident pleaded guilty Friday to health care fraud in a scheme that submitted $227 million in false Medicare claims for COVID-19 test kits that beneficiaries neither requested nor received, the Justice Department said.
Medicare paid approximately $136 million on those claims. The $227 million figure represents the amount billed, not the amount Medicare paid.
Syed Murtuza Kablazada, 36, an Indian national living in Des Plaines, Illinois, pleaded guilty to two counts of health care fraud. Sentencing will take place at a later date, and he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, according to the department.
Beneficiaries’ information used to submit claims
According to court documents and statements in court described by the Justice Department, Kablazada and others acquired three Chicago-area laboratories over six months beginning in January 2023: Chicago Care, V Care and Al-Ameer.
Kablazada paid approximately $11 million to a purported telemarketing company based in Pakistan to obtain personally identifiable information for hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries, the department said.
That information was used to submit claims for over-the-counter COVID-19 test kits. Kablazada knew the kits had not been requested by the beneficiaries or shipped to them, according to the release.
The department said those involved concealed their participation through overseas money transfers and unlicensed money transmitters. Some proceeds were used to buy luxury vehicles.
More than $46 million subject to forfeiture
As part of his plea agreement, Kablazada agreed to forfeit more than $46 million in fraud proceeds that law enforcement had seized from 10 bank accounts.
The forfeiture agreement is part of Friday’s plea announcement. The release does not describe that money as having been newly recovered Friday, and the forfeiture amount is separate from both the total claims submitted and Medicare’s payments.
The FBI’s Chicago field office and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General investigated the case. Prosecutors from the Justice Department’s Health Care Fraud Section are handling the prosecution, with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois.
A federal district court judge will determine Kablazada’s sentence after considering the federal sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. The 20-year maximum is not a sentence already imposed.
JBizNews Business Desk | Washington
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