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Tariq Din, 55, of Saddle River, and Abid Syed, 45, of East Hanover, paid kickbacks to "marketers" for referrals to their Metpath Laboratories in Parsippany, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
Two of the accused marketers, Muhammed Aurangzeb, 45, of Robbinsville, and David Weathers, 59, of the Bronx, received $5 to $30 per referral from Metpath, the U.S. attorney said.
Weathers collected $152,370 for referring 5,079 COVID-19 tests to Metpath, an indictment returned by a grand jury in U.S. District Court in Newark alleges.
Aurangzeb's company, Maximum Business Solutions, was paid $5,060 for 502 test referrals, it adds.
Both conspirators are accused of submitting invoices to make it seem as if the payments from Metpath were legit, the indictment alleges.
The case hinges, in part, on an unnamed co-conspirator who allegedly collected kickbacks and apparently is cooperating with the government.
Each defendant was charged with conspiring to violate the federal anti-kickback law. All remained free except for Aurangzeb, who Sellinger said "consented to detention."
Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI with the investigation leading to the charges. Assistant U.S. Attorney DeNae M. Thomas of his Health Care Fraud Unit in Newark is handling the case for the government, he said.
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