4 Indicted in $3.5M COVID-19 Testing Kickback Scheme At NJ Testing Lab

PARSIPPANY, NJ - Four individuals have been charged in connection with a kickback scheme involving a COVID-19 testing lab in Parsippany that reportedly defrauded federal health insurance programs, federal officials said.

Abid Syed, 45, of East Hanover; Tariq Din, 55, of Saddle River; David Weathers, 59, of the Bronx, New York; and Muhammed Aurangzeb, 45, of Robbinsville, were each charged by indictment with conspiracy to violate the federal Anti-Kickback Statute for participating in the plot to defraud Medicare and the Health Resources and Services Administration COVID-19 Uninsured Program, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.

Aurangzeb was released Wednesday on $100,000 unsecured bond and Weathers was remanded to detention. Syed and Din were charged by criminal complaint on April 11, 2022.

From April 2021 to 2022, Syed and Din operated Metpath Laboratories, a Parsippany-based clinical laboratory that conducted COVID-19 testing. Through Metpath, Syed and Din paid kickbacks to “marketers” – including Weathers and Aurangzeb – for referrals of COVID-19 test samples to Metpath, Sellinger said, with kickbacks ranging from $5 to $30 per referral for Weathers and Aurangzeb.

Syed and Din then tried to make the payments appear to be for legitimate operations expenses. In one instance, Syed altered the amount of the kickback payment to make it appear as if the marketer was a “consultant” for Metpath, Sellinger said, adding that Weathers’ company, MedtechCares Inc., also issued false invoices to Metpath, when in fact the payments were completely for the referrals.

In total, Metpath received more than $3.5 million in insurance reimbursements from federal health insurance programs for COVID-19 test samples referred by Weathers and Aurangzeb, Sellinger said.

The charge of conspiracy to violate the federal Anti-Kickback Statute carries a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison. The maximum fine for each count is $250,000, or twice the gross profit or loss caused by the offense, whichever is greatest, federal officials said.