A federal jury yesterday accused the president of a Silicon Valley-based medical technology company of misleading investors, committing healthcare fraud, and offering illegal kickbacks in connection with filing more than $77 million in false and fraudulent COVID claims. convicted of participating in a scheme to pay -19 and an allergy test.
Mark Scena, 59, of Los Altos, California, was the president of Arrayit Corporation. According to court documents and evidence presented at the trial, Shena plans to deceive Arrayit’s investors by claiming he invented a revolutionary technology that tests for virtually all diseases using just a few drops of blood. was involved in At a meeting with investors, Shena and his publicist claimed that Shena was the “father of microarray technology” and falsely stated that he was on the Nobel Prize shortlist. Court evidence also revealed that Schena had misrepresented to investors that Arrayit could be worth $4.5 billion based on estimated annual revenues of $80 million. .
To further the scheme, evidence at trial showed, among other things, that Shenah failed to release Aleit’s SEC-required financial disclosures and hid that Aleit was on the brink of bankruptcy. Schena invited investors, who fear the company is a “fraud,” to a closed-door meeting and said Arrayit has profitable partnerships with corporations, government agencies, and public institutions, including children’s hospitals. He appeased them by issuing false press releases and tweets. A leading healthcare provider in California. Tweets and press releases falsely claimed that such entities consented to her use of Arrayit technology, when in reality such agreements did not exist or were of minimal value.
Schena also organized illegal kickbacks and medical fraud schemes, including filing fraudulent claims with Medicare and private insurance for unnecessary allergy tests. Arrayit performed allergy screening tests on all patients, regardless of medical necessity, for 120 different allergens (ranging from wasp stings to cod). In order to obtain a patient’s blood sample, Schena violated the Kickback Elimination Act in Recovery Act and paid kickbacks to marketers to ensure that allerite testing was used in the diagnosis of allergies when in fact it was not. Coordinated deceptive marketing schemes that falsely claimed to be highly accurate. diagnostic test. Court evidence showed that Arrayit charged Medicare more per patient for blood-based allergy tests than any other laboratory in the U.S. They charged over $10,000 each.
In early 2020, Arrayit’s allergy testing business declined as the COVID-19 pandemic and stay at home orders reduced demand for allergy testing. Schena then incorrectly announced that Arrayit had “tested for COVID-19” based on Arrayit’s blood testing technology before developing such a test. In an attempt to capitalize on the nationwide shortage of COVID-19 testing, Shena said Dr. Anthony Fauci and other high-profile government officials had simultaneously mandated testing for his COVID-19 and allergies, prompting patients to Arrayit COVID-19 testing. They will also be tested for allergies. Schena also falsely claimed that the Arrayit COVID-19 test was more accurate than the PCR test for diagnosing COVID-19 infection, but investors and patients taking the test told him the Food and Drug Administration I hid what the Arrayit test told me was not accurate. Sufficient to receive Emergency Use Authorization for use in the United States.
Schena was convicted of one count of healthcare fraud conspiracy, one count of wire fraud conspiracy, two counts of healthcare fraud, one count of kickback payment conspiracy, two counts of kickback payment, and three counts of securities fraud. He is due to be sentenced on January 30, 2023 and faces up to 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit medical fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for each health care fraud charge. He was sentenced to five years in prison for conspiring to pay kickbacks. For each kickback payment he gets 10 years in prison. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for each count of securities fraud. U.S. District Judge Edward J. Davila considers the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors before making his decision.
Kenneth A. Polite, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, Department of Justice. U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California Stephanie M. Hines. Special Agent Craig D. FBI San Francisco Field Fair. Deputy Special Agent for Stephen J. Ryan, Office of the Inspector General of Health and Human Services (HHS-OIG). United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) – Inspector Delaney de Leon Colon of the Criminal Investigative Group. Special Agent Kim R. Lumpkins for the Inspector General’s Office of Veterans Affairs (VA-OIG). Special Agent Brian D. Denny of the Western Branch of the Defense Criminal Investigation Service (DCIS) announced.
The San Francisco and Detroit Regional Offices of HHS-OIG, USPIS, FBI, VA-OIG, and DCIS investigated the incident.
Acting Chief of Staff Jacob Foster, Justice Department Fraud Division Trial Attorney Laura Connelly, and Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California Christina Liu are prosecuting the case.
The Fraud Section uses the Victim Notification System (VNS) to provide victims with incident information and updates related to the incident. Victims with questions should contact the Fraud Division’s Victim Assistance Unit by calling Victim Assistance at 1-888-549-3945 or by emailing Victimassistance.fraud@usdoj.gov can do. For more information on victims’ rights, please visit https://www.justice.gov/criminal-vns/victim-rights-derechos-de-las-v-ctimas. If you believe you are a victim who invested in Arrayit, or have had her COVID-19 test prepared or sold by Arrayit, https://www.justice.gov/criminal-vns/ Visit case/Arrayit.