Mercer Co. Man Admits Role In COVID Testing Kickback Scheme: Feds

PENNINGTON, NJ – A Mercer County man admitted Thursday to taking part in a kickback conspiracy in which he and conspirators solicited kickbacks in exchange for providing referrals to a COVID-19 testing lab, authorities said.

Tauqir Khan, 65, of Pennington, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Brian R. Martinotti in Newark federal court to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute for his role in a scheme to obtain kickbacks for the referral of COVID-19 test samples, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.

According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court, Khan and conspirators received kickbacks in exchange for providing referrals to Parsippany-based Metpath Laboratories. Metpath subsequently billed Medicare and other health care benefit programs for the tests.

Khan faces up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000, or twice the gross profit or loss caused by the offense, whichever is greatest.

Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 11, 2024.

“Clinical laboratories and health care professionals are on notice: paying kickbacks to steer tests to a lab may break the law,” Sellinger said. “This office is committed to using all the tools at our disposal to keep illegal kickbacks out of our health care system and preserve the integrity of medical decision making.”