CHICAGO – Washington state filed a lawsuit Monday against a nationwide coronavirus testing chain that operated more than 300 locations across the U.S. and collected tens of thousands of tests a day.
Center for COVID Control and its primary laboratory, Doctors Clinical Lab, provided "invalid, false and delayed" COVID-19 test results to Washingtonians, or provided no results at all, according to the complaint from the Washington State Attorney General's Office. The company "frequently marked patients as 'uninsured,' even if they were insured," the suit alleges.
"The company’s unlawful practices included storing tests in garbage bags for over a week rather than properly refrigerating them, and backdating sample collection dates so that stale samples would still be processed," according to a press release from the office. "Employees reported that the company instructed them to 'lie to patients on a daily basis' when Washingtonians complained about their delayed results."
The state is suing Center for Covid Control, Doctors Clinical Laboratory and Center for COVID Control founders, husband and wife Akbar Syed and Aleya Siyaj, for violations of the Consumer Protection Act. The office said it plans to file a motion for preliminary injunction soon "to immediately stop the Center for COVID Control’s unlawful conduct."
"Center for COVID Control contributed to the spread of COVID-19 when it provided false negative results," Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in the release. "These sham testing centers threatened the health and safety of our communities. They must be held accountable."
Multiple other states and federal officials are investigating the company and lab. The Minnesota Attorney General's Office filed a similar civil complaint two weeks ago alleging the testing chain and lab "provide inaccurate and deceptive" test results, fraudulently reported negative results and "represented to the federal government" that people with private or public insurance were actually uninsured.
Doctors Clinical Lab has been reimbursed more than $155 million through the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration's COVID-19 Uninsured Program, public data shows. Private health insurers also paid the lab.
The FBI earlier this month searched Center for COVID Control headquarters in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, just outside Chicago. The agency would not comment on the investigation.
Center for COVID Control and Doctors Clinical Lab are registered at the same Rolling Meadows address, and call center employees answered calls for both the testing sites and the lab.
The Washington State lawsuit, filed in King County Superior Court, asks the court to order Center for COVID Control to "stop all its unlawful conduct," pay civil penalties of up to $12,500 per violation – including $5,000 in "enhanced penalties for targeting vulnerable populations" – and relinquish any profits the company made from its unlawful conduct.
Center for COVID Control did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Center for COVID Control last week said it was suspending test collection operations "indefinitely." At its peak, the business was operating hundreds of locations across at least 26 states and collecting about 80,000 tests per day, according to the company.
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Officials with the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services visited the testing sites and lab in November and December and documented numerous "deficiencies." The agency's report describes Center for COVID Control as "a marketing business that sets up COVID-19 test locations" and contracts with laboratories.
USA TODAY began investigating Center for COVID Control in early January. The business temporarily "paused" test collection weeks later, citing "increased scrutiny by the media" in an internal memo to employees.
In a statement last week, Siyaj and Syed said they were "shifting our focus away from operating the test collection marketing and management firm to responding and cooperating with legal probes, and to clearing our good names."
Siyaj and Syed "encouraged the independent operators" of the chain's affiliated collection sites to seek "affiliations with other vendors" and with a certified lab, Center for COVID Control spokesperson Russ Keene told USA TODAY on Friday.
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"With the field collection sites no longer affiliated with CCC, most headquarters operations will also wind down for the foreseeable future," Keene said.
Syed and Siyaj, who are married, have attracted attention in recent months for posting images on social media of luxury vehicles and a new $1.36 million mansion. In one post, Syed attributed his wealth to "COVID money."
Dozens of people across at least 20 states have reached out to USA TODAY expressing concerns about Center for COVID Control testing sites. Iowa, Michigan and New Mexico have received complaints about the sites, the respective attorneys general offices told USA TODAY. Others – including Colorado, Massachusetts, Maryland and New York – shut down or issued warnings to sites.
The Illinois Attorney General's Office and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are also looking into the company and lab. The Oregon Department of Justice is investigating the company on suspicion of Unfair Trade Practices Act violations.
Center for COVID Control had at least 13 testing sites in Washington and did not have a license to operate a business in any municipalities in Washington, except for one, according to the attorney general's office.
Contact reporter Grace Hauck with tips at ghauck@usatoday.com.
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