Hasan Seyhun, former chief operating officer of Fast Lab Technologies, has pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud over his involvement in a fraudulent $500 million COVID-19 testing scheme.

Mr Seyhun, 45, admitted on Thursday that he masterminded the scheme and conspired with previously charged defendants Cemhan Biricik, Fast Lab’s CEO, and Martin Perlin, the laboratory’s medical director, to carry it out.

A Department of Justice statement said the scheme involved more than $500 million in fraudulent claims submitted to government-backed healthcare programmes.

Illicit payments in the scheme were estimated at $35 million, with Mr Seyhun agreeing to forfeit $4.3 million he personally received.

Prosecutors said that Fast Lab, a New York-based medical laboratory that offered free COVID-19 testing during the pandemic, used customers’ insurance information to submit claims for services it did not provide.

“Fast Lab then used customers’ insurance information to falsely bill for services that were never provided, including false claims that antigen tests had been observed by medical professionals. That saliva samples had been collected by medical personnel, and that PCR testing had been conducted on those samples,” the DOJ said.

“Instead of providing the American people with the assistance they needed during a critical time, Seyhun and his colleagues exploited their trust and lined their pockets from fraudulent insurance claims,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the National Fraud Enforcement Division.

“The Fraud Division will not let up in its relentless pursuit of COVID-era fraudsters.”

U.S. attorney Jerome Gorgon Jr said Mr Seyhun and his co-conspirators “routinely submitted claims for payment” before having test kits delivered to customers.