A Texas businessman, Rashid Naqvi, 52, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud in a COVID-19 test kit scheme that defrauded Medicare of nearly $2 million. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Naqvi admitted to obtaining $1,974,479 by submitting thousands of fraudulent claims for COVID-19 test kits through his companies.
The fraud occurred between March and October 2023. Naqvi, operating mainly through Elite Diagnostics Inc. and Astro Diagnostics Inc., obtained Medicare patient information illegally. He paid over $480,000 in kickbacks to co-conspirators who provided the Medicare numbers and patient identifiers. Many patients had not requested the test kits and had no direct contact with Naqvi or his laboratories. Despite complaints from patients who received unsolicited kits, the scheme continued, resulting in Medicare being billed for 22,898 kits.
Investigators found that some of the beneficiaries were deceased before the test kits were allegedly received. When Medicare audits reviewed Naqvi’s operations, he attempted to cover up the fraud by creating fake authorization documents for the kits, as per the U.S. Attorney's Office. The kickbacks, which were central to the scheme, were also hidden during the audits.
Naqvi is awaiting sentencing, scheduled for April 7, 2026. Wire fraud carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000. The investigation was led by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman, who outlined the methods Naqvi used to carry out and hide the fraudulent activity.
