Naperville Man Accused Of Defrauding Medicare In Multi-Million Dollar COVID Test Scheme

NAPERVILLE, IL — A Naperville man faces federal charges in connection with a COVID test scheme that defrauded Medicare out of $240 million.

Amirali Bhimani, 42, was charged with three counts of health care fraud United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Andrew Boutros announced Tuesday.

Prosecutors say Bhimani submitted fraudulent claims to request reimbursement for over-the-counter COVID test kits. The kits were either never requested or never provided to the Medicare beneficiaries.

Bhimani is also accused of selling information about Medicare benificiaries to laboratories to allow for billing to facilitate the test fraud.

In total Bhimani "caused laboratories to bill Medicare approximately $342 million for the purported provision of test kits to beneficiaries who did not consent to receiving the kits and did not receive the kits, of which approximately $240 million was paid to the laboratories," a news release said.

Prosecutors say Bhimani also used artificial intelligence to make fraudulent phone call recordings that he sent to the labs. The phone calls falsely depicted Medicare beneficiaries consenting to get the test kits, per the news release.

“Healthcare fraud causes billions of dollars in losses to the federal government and private insurers and all too often involves the exploitation of patients through unnecessary or unsafe medical tests and procedures,” Boutros said in a statement.

Bhimani will be tried by the Midwest Strike Force's Trial Attorney Kelly M. Warner.