Covid-19 Fraud on the Rise in the US: MEDICAL Impact, Preventive Wellness Consultants LLC and Arrayit Corporation Facing Possible Fraud Charges

As COVID-19 continues to spread havoc globally, some companies in the US are seemingly taking advantage of the crisis and raking in various cash incentives. This leaves many people to speculate on the level of honesty that each organization professes to have and whether the complainants’ claims are legal or prejudiced.

Recently, a New York brokerage firm owned by Frank Borguse that is known as Medical Impact and Surgical Solutions (IMPACT Medical) ended up with a lawsuit filed against it by the New York Attorney General Letitia James. Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, IMPACT Medical has been one of the latest in a string of companies to end up facing a court lawsuit. According to Letitia James, she claims that after careful examination of the company’s activities that there is evidence to show that MEDICAL Impact is guilty of a widespread fraud that happened in 2019 as the coronavirus disease spread.

“Medical Impact took advantage of the crisis by charging health care systems and the government large sums of money for fake medical supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) that they could not deliver to the public: thus the company made millions of dollars in bogus sales,” said Letitia James.

“We will not allow anyone to take advantage of New York during this serious crisis facing us and the world,” says the Attorney General in a press release letter.

Woman with mask. Photo by Ani Kolleshi on Unsplash
Woman with mask. Photo by Ani Kolleshi on Unsplash

Meanwhile, Governor Andrew Cuomo gave his thumbs up to the decision of the Attorney General by saying, “I applaud the Attorney General for taking decisive action to protect the state of New York’s essential workers from IMPACT Medical’s half-baked attempt to sell non-existent PPE.”

Another company, 3M, filed a lawsuit against Preventive Wellness Consultants LLC and named it the N95 mask fraud “ringleader” in the ongoing pandemic coronavirus crisis. The company is claiming that Preventive Wellness claimed to be able to supply millions of badly needed 3M brand N95 respirators that the public seriously need to help combat the spread of COVID-19.

3M said that Preventive Wellness promised that they and their associate RX2live would supply health agencies with N95 respiratory masks at greatly reduced prices. However, on careful investigation carried out by 3M, they learned that Preventive Wellness Consultants claims were false and that the company had no dealings with RX2live. 3M is accusing the company of selling damaged, fake and insufficient N95 masks while pocketing US$350,000 under questionable circumstances.

Since the filing of the lawsuit, Preventive Wellness and Consultants LLC has not responded to the 3M claim as yet.

The California based company known as Arrayit Corporation, which is run by its president Mark Schena is another tech firm that is facing criminal charges as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. When the company was investigated, federal officials said that it was found to be guilty of criminal negligence in a number of ways.

Schena was charged with a single count involving conspiracy to commit fraud in the healthcare industry and a single count that has to do with securities fraud. The charges came in the wake of an investigation launched by authorities that claimed that the company tried to pass on a bill to Medicare to the tune of US$69 million for various tests involving the coronavirus issue.

In addition, the Arrayit president was charged with unlawfully posting of false social media claims and sending investors fictitious company emails claiming that his company could provide fast reliable and accurate coronavirus tests and that his company is acting in compliance with the guidelines laid down by the state as well as federal regulations.

Prosecutors are claiming that Schena also sold the public a lie by touting that his company was the only laboratory existing on a global level that offered to the public “revolutionary microarray technology” that would assist in the testing for allergies associated with COVID-19.

On April 17, the Food and Drug Administration informed Arrayit that its COVID-19 tests did not reach the level of performance that is acceptable by the governing administration and this information was not disclosed by Schena’s company to the public.

As a result of Schena’s alleged exorbitant COVID-19 claims, Arrayit’s stock prices rose in mid-March and started showing more than a double increase in price value, even in the midst of a stock market decline, court documents went on to say.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, US authorities are still combing the industry to find other companies that they think may be manipulating health agencies and the public.