CEO, medical director charged in $500M COVID-19 test billing scheme

Two people are facing charges after health insurance programs were billed for COVID-19 test services that never happened, officials said.

Cemhan “Jimmy” Biricik, 46, of Boca Raton, Florida, and Dr. Martin Perlin, 74, of Fairfield, Connecticut, were charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and more than 50 substantive counts of health care fraud, according to a release from U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon.

They were both arrested in the morning on Thursday, July 31, 2025.

Biricik was the CEO of the New York-based Fast Lab Technologies, LLC. (also known as Fast Lab), and Perlin was the medical director.

Perlin ordered most of the tests, according to the release.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Fast Lab had a website that offered “free” COVID-19 tests.

When people ordered the tests, they were asked to put in their insurance information.

The lab would then use the insurance details to “fraudulently bill Medicare, Medicaid and TRICARE and numerous private insurances for both antigen and PCR tests, across multiple dates for each beneficiary,” according to the release.

The company allegedly claimed that the antigen, or rapid, tests were reviewed by medical professionals and that testing was performed on saliva samples that had been collected.

However, the “vast majority” of the rapid tests were taken at home and not observed by medical staff, and saliva samples were never collected or returned to the lab.

In addition, PCR tests were never done, according to the release.

Perlin had no treating relationship with the patients, but was the ordering physician.

Officials say the lab would submit insurance claims before beneficiaries even received their test kits.

In total, the company billed more than $500 million in claims and was paid more than $50 million.

Several agencies investigated the case, and the FBI Detroit Field Office, the U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Michigan and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel were included on the announcement.