Rajesh Patel
Charged, not convicted. Rajesh “Raj” Patel faces a five-count federal indictment and is presumed innocent.
Introduction
Rajesh “Raj” Patel, 52, of Schaumburg, Illinois, is a laboratory executive charged in a $66.2 million fraud scheme in which he allegedly billed the federal government for hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 tests that were never performed . A federal grand jury in the Northern District of Illinois returned a five-count wire fraud indictment on October 19, 2026, and the Justice Department announced the charges the next day .
Background Information
Patel was the co-owner and Chief Operating Officer of a clinical laboratory in Hillside, Illinois, that processed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests during the COVID-19 pandemic . His laboratory’s testing volumes were billed to the HRSA Uninsured Program, the federally funded program created to cover COVID-19 testing costs for people without health insurance .
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
According to court documents, in around March 2021 Patel’s laboratory entered an agreement with Meridian Medical Staffing Inc., paying the company tens of millions of dollars to collect test specimens and provide the biological information of purported patients — many of whom, prosecutors allege, never existed or never provided specimens . Between May 2021 and April 2022, Patel allegedly created fake “negative” test results for at least 380,000 PCR tests on those specimens; the laboratory never actually performed the tests .
The fabricated results let the laboratory fraudulently bill the HRSA Uninsured Program: approximately $66.2 million in claims were submitted, approximately $44.1 million was paid, and Patel personally obtained approximately $28 million in proceeds from the scheme, according to the indictment . Patel is charged with five counts of wire fraud, each carrying a maximum of twenty years in prison if convicted .
Public Reaction and Consequences
Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s Fraud Division said: “This defendant allegedly exploited a global crisis for personal gain, fabricating hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 tests – then billing the taxpayer for it,” adding, “Every dollar taken from a federal health care program is a dollar taken from the American people” . FBI Chicago Special Agent in Charge Ryan Whalen said pandemic assistance programs “were designed to provide a lifeline to vulnerable members of society,” and that those entrusted with federal health care dollars “have a responsibility to bill honestly and accurately” . The case was announced jointly by the Fraud Division, the FBI, and HHS-OIG .
Current Status
Patel has been indicted but not tried, and individuals charged by indictment are presumed innocent until proven guilty . If convicted, he faces a maximum of twenty years in federal prison on each of the five counts . The case remains pending in the Northern District of Illinois .
Impact on Their Career/Life
The indictment ended Patel’s role at the Hillside laboratory he co-owned and ran as chief operating officer, and places him among the largest individually charged pandemic-testing fraud defendants in the Chicago area . The alleged $28 million in personal proceeds and the twenty-year maximum per count make the case one of the most consequential HRSA-program prosecutions to emerge from the pandemic testing boom.