The owner of a Georgia consulting company and a Texas man were charged in connection with their roles in a conspiracy to pay kickbacks and bribes in exchange for referrals of patient DNA samples and genetic tests to a laboratory. John Berberian, 46, of Atlanta, Georgia, and Christopher Lytle, 51, of Desoto, Texas, are each charged by complaint with conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute. Berberian owned and operated a consulting company based in Atlanta. The consulting company entered into agreements with marketing and sales groups, which acquired patients’ DNA samples and physicians’ orders for the purpose of submitting those samples and orders to clinical laboratories for genetic tests and related services. Lytle partnered with Berberian and others to recruit and oversee these patient acquisition groups.
From as early as June 2018 through November 2018, Berberian, Lytle, and others conspired to offer and pay kickbacks and bribes to Ark Laboratory Network LLC, a patient acquisition group. These kickbacks and bribes were paid in exchange for Ark’s referral of patient DNA samples, including from beneficiaries in New Jersey, to Personalized Genetics LLC, d/b/a Personalized Genomics (PGL), a clinical laboratory in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for genetic testing. PGL, in turn, via a billing company associated with Berberian, billed and obtained payment from Medicare for these genetic tests. Berberian’s consulting company paid Ark $957,783 in kickbacks and bribes in exchange for DNA samples and physicians’ orders it delivered to PGL. As a result of the claims PGL submitted to Medicare for the related genetic tests, Medicare paid PGL more than $2.7 million.
