Lab Co-Owners Acquitted in Alleged COVID-19 Testing Scheme
A Florida jury recently found two laboratory co-owners of Innovative Genomics LLC (“IGX”) not guilty in connection with an allegedly fraudulent COVID-19 testing scheme.
The Government alleged that from November 2019 through June 2023, the co-owners conspired to defraud Medicare and the Health Resources and Services Administration COVID-19 Uninsured Program by billing healthcare benefit plans for COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and antigen tests that were not medically necessary and had not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for emergency use at the time. The indictment also alleged that the two owners conspired to defraud healthcare benefit plans by paying and receiving kickbacks and bribes in exchange for ordering and arranging for the ordering of PCR testing by IGX so that IGX could bill healthcare benefit programs for COVID-19 testing regardless of whether the beneficiaries needed the tests, or whether the tests were eligible for reimbursement.
The co-owners presented evidence at trial showing their good-faith efforts to comply with the law during the COVID-19 pandemic by checking with lawyers and other experts on a routine basis, which ultimately negated the allegations of a fraudulent scheme.
The case is U.S. v. Perez-Paris et al. (Case No. 1:24-cr-20155), filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
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