SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – A Bay Area man could spend decades in prison after a federal jury on Thursday convicted him of multiple counts of health care, securities and wire fraud.
For more, stream KCBS Radio now.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Friday that a jury convicted Mark Schena, the 59-year-old president of the Arrayit Corporation, of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to pay kickbacks, two counts of health care fraud, two counts of payment of kickbacks and three counts of securities fraud stemming from $77 million he billed to Medicare for fraudulent COVID-19 and allergy tests.
Before he had ever developed the technology, Schena claimed in the early days of the pandemic that Arrayit's blood-based test could also test for COVID-19. He falsely claimed that federal officials had mandated allergy testing to coincide with COVID-19 tests, and he said that Arrayit's test was more accurate than a PCR test.
Prosecutors said that Schena overstated, or outright lied about, Sunnyvale-based Arrayit's valuation, revenue and business relationships in order to attract investors. The Los Altos resident also unnecessarily tested patients with Medicare and private insurance for allergies, billing the insurers and illegally paying marketers and doctors to run tests for 120 different allergens. Arrayit charged some insurers more than $10,000 per test, federal prosecutors said.
Federal officials first charged Schena with one count of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud in June 2020, before charging him in a superseding indictment last May with the nine counts a jury convicted him of on Thursday.
Schena will be sentenced on Jan. 30, 2023 in San Jose, more than four months and two months, respectively, after Judge Edward Davila will also sentence Elizabeth Holmes and Sunny Balwani – the top two executives from Theranos, the fraudulent Palo Alto-based blood testing company that folded in 2018 – in the same federal courthouse.
Schena's charges carry maximum sentences ranging from five to 20 years in federal prison, and Davila will determine whether Schena will serve them consecutively or concurrently.
Related
