Owner of Chicago-based pop-up COVID testing site charged with fraud, got $83M in federal payments

CHICAGO (WLS) -- On his public LinkedIn page, Zishan Alvi touted his lab's ability to meet COVID-19 testing demand.

But, in this 10-count indictment, federal prosecutors allege he submitted fraudulent testing claims that cost the federal government more than $83 million.

"This amount of money is not your average take from your average fraud scheme. This really was a very profitable scheme by the face of the indictment," said ABC7 Legal Analyst Gil Soffer.

Alvi's lab offered rapid tests, PCR tests, and a service in which individuals and companies could pay a fee to received expedited PCR test results, prosecutor said.

The feds have not named Alvi's company, calling it only "Laboratory A," but Alvi's LinkedIn page says he's the president of LabElite. The indictment came a little more than a year after the FBI raided the company's Norwood Park offices.

Alvi allegedly sought reimbursement for tests that were never performed. To reduce costs and increase profits, prosecutors said, he cut corners on testing, which made them unreliable.

The complaint says he also directed workers to release negative results to patients, even when no tests were done.

"According to the allegations, he provided false results to people, patients, who were it seems led to believe that they did not have COVID, when presumably, in some instances, they might have," Soffer said.

On his LinkedIn page, the 44-year-old Alvi of Inverness says, "every test we process is helping someone." But, prosecutors said he used the money he stole to buy luxury cars, as well as stocks and cryptocurrency.