The former CEO of Reditus Laboratories was sentenced to three additional years in federal prison – on top of a five-year sentence handed down last year – for defrauding insurance companies and the state of Illinois by double-billing patients for COVID-19 tests during the pandemic.
Aaron Rossi, 42, pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud and one count of wire fraud in April after it was alleged that he used an improper code for payment of COVID-19 testing at Reditus over a 13-month period between October 2020 and November 2021, defrauding public and private insurance companies in the process and claiming hundreds of thousands of dollars that weren’t meant for them.
U.S. Central District Court Chief Judge Sara Darrow handed down the sentence Tuesday, saying that Rossi’s actions at Reditus, along with his actions at an orthopedic surgery practice in Bloomington between 2015-2017, showed a “continued pattern” of fraud, with his actions being indicative of “greed” during the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rossi was indicted in June 2024 on six counts of health care fraud, one count of wire fraud and four counts of mail fraud after it was alleged that he had defrauded Medicare, Medicaid, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, Healthlink and the federal Health Resources and Services Administration’s Uninsured Program by using an improper code during payment of COVID-19 tests, allowing himself to obtain $150,000 in funds as a result.
In addition, he was also accused of sending false invoices to the state while he had a contract with it for COVID-19 testing, also receiving $150,000 as a result.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Doug McMeyer argued during Tuesday’s sentencing hearing that Rossi had deliberately bypassed the proper codes for payment of the tests while ignoring complaints from employees that his actions were illegal. They noted that the code Rossi used was one that had been used for pathologists to examine previously diagnosed tissue for molecular analysis, not for COVID-19 testing.
In addition, they noted that a receiver had to be appointed to Reditus in order to clean it up, firing Rossi and eventually refunding those who were impacted by the fraud.
Rossi’s attorney, Richard Blake, said that his client took full responsibility for his actions, but noted that the fraudulent billing had been stopped prior to the appointment of the receiver and that consultants had already been hired by him to evaluate the company before this.
He admitted that Rossi had been aggressive in his billing tactics, but argued that Rossi provided a lot of good things for the community and for his family.
Rossi also spoke during Tuesday’s hearing, saying that he should have slowed down to consider the ramifications of what he was doing, apologizing to the court for the fraud.
Rossi had previously been sentenced to five years in prison on wire fraud charges and creating a false tax return for creating a system to take money out of the coffers of Central Illinois Orthopedic Surgery in Bloomington, where he worked from 2015-2017.
Initially indicted in March 2022 for filing false tax returns for three years, wire fraud charges were added on after it was found that he moved the company’s bank account from Commerce Bank to Chase while posing as a practicing physician, changing their accountants and using company money on a wide range of personal items, from credit card payments to a new sound system for his home to a lease on a private jet.
Rossi was also sentenced to time served for a charge of possessing a vape pen, battery and a cannabinoid while in the Peoria County Jail, having pleaded guilty on three counts of possession of contraband at the same time he pleaded guilty on the Reditus charges.
McMeyer said Tuesday that the person who provided him with these materials was Ezekiel Hidden, a corrections officer who was fired from the jail in March after being charged with allowing the items into the jail in exchange for money.
Hidden is set for trial in Peoria County Circuit Court on Oct. 6 at 9 a.m.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Former Reditus CEO Aaron Rossi receives extra time in prison for insurance, wire fraud
Reporting by Zach Roth, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
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