'Driven Purely By Greed': Silicon Valley Exec Gets Prison For COVID Test Scheme, DOJ Says

LOS ALTOS, CA — The head of a medical technology company was sentenced to eight years in prison and must pay $24 million in restitution for his role in schemes to defraud investors, commit health care fraud and pay kickbacks tied to over $77 million in coronavirus and allergy testing claims, authorities said.

“A Silicon Valley executive exploited the pandemic for profit, ultimately endangering patients with unproven COVID-19 tests,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri said in a news release.

Mark Schena, 60, of Los Altos, was president of Arrayit Corp. when he claimed to investors to have invented technology to test for any disease using a single drop of blood from a finger stick sample, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Schena also falsely told investors the company could be worth $4.5 billion, authorities said.

During the pandemic, Arrayit’s attempts to develop a COVID-19 antibody test were unsuccessful and the company was on the verge of bankruptcy, according to the department, but Schena told investors Arrayit had multimillion-dollar contracts and other bogus developments.

Schena failed to release Arrayit’s financial disclosures as required by the Securities and Exchange Commission, authorities said, adding he used television appearances, videos, press releases and social media to misrepresent the state of the company.

He orchestrated a scheme to screen every patient for 120 different allergens regardless of medical necessity and submit fraudulent claims to insurance, according to the department. Schena obtained blood specimens by paying kickbacks to marketers and falsely claiming Arrayit’s test was highly accurate in diagnosing allergies, authorities said.

In early 2020, he announced the company had a COVID-19 test but falsely claimed Dr. Anthony Fauci and other officials mandated simultaneous testing for the coronavirus and allergies, according to the department. Schena also hid that the test was not accurate enough for Food and Drug Administration Emergency Use Authorization, authorities said.

“Mr. Schena’s sentencing is a fitting resolution that holds him accountable for a multimillion-dollar fraudulent scheme driven purely by greed and devoid of fiscal responsibility or concern for the patients that would ultimately use his nearly useless products,” Director Kelly Mayo of the Department of Defense, Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, said in the news release.

Schena was convicted Sept. 6, 2022, by a federal jury, according to the department.

Anyone who believes they may be a victim of the Arrayit schemes is asked to visit www.justice.gov/criminal-vns/case/Arrayit.