Four labs billed $522 million for genetic tests that marketers sold door to door
Reyad Salahaldeen of Buford, Georgia controlled four clinical laboratories, Express Diagnostics in New Jersey, BioConfirm Laboratory USA and BioConfirm Laboratories in Georgia, and Tox Management and Tri-State Toxicology in Texas, which billed about $522 million in false claims for genetic tests between 2018 and August 2020. Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers paid about $84 million. The labs paid kickbacks to a network of marketers who collected insurance details and DNA samples from people through telemarketing, door-to-door visits and health fairs. Salahaldeen pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud and was sentenced in 2026 to 151 months in prison and $84,594,165 in restitution. Co-defendant Mohamad Mustafa of Duluth, Georgia was sentenced to three years and $64,301,569 in restitution for paying health care kickbacks.
- Year
- 2026
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Reported loss
- $84.6 million
- Victims
- Not stated in the sources
- Schemes
- Genetic testing fraud
- Last reviewed
- 2026-10-19
The facts, as recorded
- Salahaldeen, 57, of Buford, Georgia controlled four laboratories: Express Diagnostics, LLC in New Jersey, BioConfirm Laboratory USA, LLC and BioConfirm Laboratories, LLC in Georgia, and Tox Management, LLC and Tri-State Toxicology, LLC in Texas. Mohamad Mustafa, 28, of Duluth, Georgia controlled Express and BioConfirm with him.
- From 2018 through August 2020 the four labs billed about $522 million in false and fraudulent claims, and Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers paid about $84 million.
- The labs paid kickbacks and bribes to a network of marketers who targeted people with Medicare, Medicaid or private insurance and persuaded them to give up their insurance information and DNA samples for genetic tests that claimed to predict cancer risk, adverse drug reactions and other conditions.
- Marketers solicited through telemarketing, door-to-door visits, health fairs and other in-person methods.
- Marketers obtained test requisition forms from providers who had not treated or consulted the patients, and the results were not used in treatment.
- Salahaldeen falsified requisition forms, letters of medical necessity and other medical records, and sham contracts and invoices disguised the kickbacks as payments for marketing services.
- After the indictment and arrest warrant, Salahaldeen traveled from North Carolina to Texas and tried to enter Mexico, and was caught at the border after presenting another person's identification.
- The Justice Department's announcement, dated May 4, 2026, said Salahaldeen was sentenced to 151 months in prison and ordered to pay $84,594,165 in restitution and to forfeit $3,044,866 from two bank accounts, a 2019 GMC Yukon and properties in Texas and Georgia.
- Mustafa pleaded guilty to paying health care kickbacks and was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay $64,301,569 in restitution.
- Eleven co-conspirators had previously pleaded guilty, including marketers, two nurse practitioners and three doctors, with sentences ranging from six months of house arrest with probation to 46 months in prison.
Why this case matters
It is the largest billed total among the cases documented here, and it shows the full chain in one place: a lab owner who never met the patients, marketers paid per sample, doctors who signed orders for people they had not treated, and paperwork edited afterwards to make the tests look medically necessary. The Justice Department’s account also shows how much of the chain was people: eleven others, from marketers to nurse practitioners and doctors, had already pleaded guilty before the two lead defendants were sentenced.
Billed far more than was paid
The labs billed about $522 million, and Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers paid about $84 million. The court’s restitution order for Salahaldeen, $84,594,165, is in line with the amount paid rather than the amount billed. The release does not say why the two figures differ, and this page does not guess.
The caveat
Both lead defendants pleaded guilty and have been sentenced, and the conduct above is taken from the Justice Department’s own account of the case. This page does not describe the patients, who are not named in the release, and it does not claim that every test the labs ran was unnecessary beyond what the release states. It describes the scheme the defendants admitted, the amounts the court ordered, and nothing more.
Sources
- Two Sentenced to Prison for $522M Genetic Testing Fraud and Illegal Kickback Scheme Targeting Medicare and Medicaid. US Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs. Accessed 2026-10-19. Supports: Every fact above: the defendants and their four laboratories, the 2018 to August 2020 scheme period, the $522 million billed and $84 million paid, the marketer network and their recruiting methods, the falsified forms and sham contracts, the attempted flight, the sentences, restitution and forfeiture, and the eleven earlier guilty pleas.