COVID-19 Test Kickback Scheme Defrauds Healthcare, Bergen Man Charged: Officials

SADDLE RIVER, NJ — A Saddle River man was accused of taking part in a $3.5 million kickback scheme involving COVID-19 testing that defrauded health insurance programs, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger said.

Tariq Din, 55, of Saddle River; along with three others, were each indicted on one count of conspiracy in relation to federal kickback law violations, which stem from an alleged scheme to defraud Medicare and a COVID-19 uninsured program, Sellinger said.

For approximately a year beginning April 2021, Din and Abid Syed — an East Hanover man also charged — operated Metpath Laboratories, a COVID-19 testing center. Din and Syed paid kickbacks to "marketers," for referrals of COVID-19 test samples to Metpath, the attorney's office said.

The marketers, including the other two men charged, were paid $5 to $30 per referral, the attorney's office said.

The accused tried to make the payments appear as "legitimate business expenses," when, in fact, the payments were entirely for the referrals, the attorney's office said.

Metpath received more than $3.5 million in insurance reimbursements for the test samples referred, the attorney's office said.

Din faces up to five years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines (or twice the gross profit or loss caused by the offense — whichever is greatest), the attorney's office said.