CHICAGO – Zishan Alvi, a 46-year-old laboratory owner from Chicago, was sentenced today to seven years in federal prison for masterminding a large-scale fraud scheme that embezzled over $14 million from a federal COVID-19 testing initiative.
Alvi, who resides in Inverness, Illinois, entered a guilty plea to a single count of wire fraud in September 2024. Court documents reveal that between 2021 and 2022, Alvi’s laboratory submitted fraudulent claims to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for COVID-19 testing. This scheme involved charging for tests that were either never conducted or deemed unreliable because Alvi intentionally diluted the test components to cut costs.
Importantly, Alvi directed his lab to issue negative COVID-19 test results to patients even when the samples were never tested or when the results were inconclusive due to his cost-saving dilution methods. Alvi was fully aware that these results were invalid but continued to bill HRSA for these tests and actively deceived laboratory directors to hide his fraudulent actions. The government disbursed over $14 million to his lab based on these fraudulent claims.
In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge ordered Alvi to pay $14,199,217 in restitution. He was also forced to forfeit significant assets, including approximately $6.8 million in cash, a 2021 Range Rover HSE, and over $630,000 from an E-Trade account.
“Today’s sentence holds Mr. Alvi accountable for a brazen theft from a program designed to protect public health during a national crisis,” said U.S. Attorney Andrew S. Boutros for the Northern District of Illinois. The sentencing was announced jointly by Boutros, Matthew R. Galeotti (Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division), FBI Chicago Special Agent in Charge Douglas S. DePodesta, and HHS Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Christian J. Schrank.
