On Saturday, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) raided the national headquarters of a privately-owned chain of COVID-19 testing sites known as the Center for COVID Control, amidst broader investigations into other private companies that run such facilities.
According to USA Today, the company has received over $124 million in reimbursements from the federal government since the Chinese coronavirus pandemic first began, with the funding primarily going towards coronavirus testing facilities around the country. The company’s headquarters are located in Rolling Meadow, Illinois.
When asked about the incident, a spokesperson for the FBI’s Chicago office simply said that the bureau “was conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity in Rolling Meadows yesterday.” Annie Thompson, spokeswoman for Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul (D-Ill.), said that the Attorney General’s office “is absolutely committed to protecting residents from those who attempt to profit off of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.”
“We are working with the FBI and other law enforcement partners,” Thompson’s statement continued, “and will not comment on ongoing investigations as we work to hold accountable individuals who engage in unlawful conduct.”
The company is also facing a consumer-protection lawsuit from the office of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), which claims that the company has provided “inaccurate and deceptive” test results to its patients, including false negative tests. In addition, the company is under investigation by the Oregon Department of Justice for alleged violations of the Unfair Trade Practices Act.
The owners of the company are the husband-and-wife team of 35-year-old Akbar Syed and 29-year-old Aleya Siyaj. Syed has come under scrutiny after sharing numerous images to his social media depicting an increasingly wealthy lifestyle, including pictures of two Lamborghinis, a Ferrari, and a mansion worth over $1 million.