A grand jury in the Western District of Arkansas has returned an indictment charging a lab owner with more than $100 million in false billings for COVID-19 testing and other clinical services.

The U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release that court documents show Billy Joe Taylor, 42, of Lavaca, engaged in a scheme between February 2017 and May 2021 in connection with medically unnecessary and unordered diagnostic laboratory testing, including for respiratory illnesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The indictment alleged Taylor controlled and directed multiple diagnostic laboratories, and used those labs to submit more than $100 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare. The indictment alleged Taylor obtained medical information and private personal information for Medicare beneficiaries and then misused that confidential information to repeatedly submit claims to Medicare for diagnostic tests that were not ordered by medical providers and were not actually performed by the laboratories.