FBI searches Center for COVID Control national headquarters
CHICAGO – The FBI on Saturday searched the headquarters of a nationwide string of coronavirus testing sites known as the Center for COVID Control.
The company and its main lab, which has been reimbursed more than $124 million from the federal government for coronavirus testing, are under investigation by state and federal officials. The company and lab are registered at the same address in Rolling Meadows, Illinois.
“The FBI was conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity in Rolling Meadows yesterday,” Siobhan Johnson, a spokesperson for the FBI’s Chicago office, said Sunday.
A Center for COVID Control spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Asked about the law enforcement activity, Annie Thompson, a spokesperson for the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, said the attorney general “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 and will not comment on ongoing investigations as we work to hold accountable individuals who engage in unlawful conduct,” Thompson said.
The search comes days after the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office filed a consumer protection lawsuit against the company and its primary laboratory, Doctors Clinical Lab. The complaint alleges the company and lab “provide inaccurate and deceptive” test results and have fraudulently reported negative test results.
Longtime entrepreneurs Akbar Syed, 35, and his wife, Aleya Siyaj, 29, run the Center for COVID Control and, in recent months, have been sharing photos and videos on social media of their growing wealth. Syed has shared images of two Lamborghinis, a 2018 Ford GT, a Ferrari Enzo and a new $1.36 million mansion.
At its peak, the Center for COVID Control had more than 300 locations across at least 26 states and collected more than 80,000 tests a day, according to the company.
USA TODAY began investigating the company in early January after a reporter encountered a “pop-up” testing site operating out of a generator-powered shack in Chicago. Since then, dozens of people across at least 18 states have reached out to USA TODAY expressing concerns about the testing sites, and multiple agencies have launched investigations.
The Center for COVID Control is also under investigation by the Illinois Attorney General’s Office and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Oregon Department of Justice is investigating the company as well.