On September 9, 2022, the FBI’s Philadelphia office asked for help locating Chidozie Collins Obasi. OBASI is charged with being part of a conspiracy to steal more than $30 Million related to COVID Fraud out of New York. How did the scam work? Much of it goes back to a typical model = a fake job offer and a counterfeit check. But in this case, there was much more!
During the COVID-19 crisis, the New York State Department of Health was responsible for buying and allocating ventilators to hospitals in the State of New York. Two of their hospitals will be relevant in this case. Guthrie, a non-profit health care system based in Sayre, Pennsylvania, but operating two hospitals in New York, and Northwell Health, another non-profit healthcare network at that time the largest provider of rehab and nursing facilities also providing urgent care, hospice care, and home health services.
Part of the scam conducted by OBASI was to offer for sale three ventilator products sold by the German company Draeger, Inc, with a U.S. headquarters in Telford, Pennsylvania. Their three most popular ventilators for sale in the US were the Evita 300 ($15,000), the Savina 300 ($17,000) and the Evita V500 ($21,000).
Members of OBASI’s conspiracy opened bank accounts at…
