Ex-Loretto Hospital exec accused of defrauding feds through COVID-19 testing scheme arrested in Serbia
A former Loretto Hospital executive accused of defrauding the federal government was taken into custody in Serbia, according to new court filings.
Anosh Ahmed, the hospital’s onetime chief financial officer who resigned in 2021 amid a series of COVID-19 controversies, was arrested in Serbia on Nov. 30, 2025, according to Wednesday’s filing. A month later, a Serbian court denied Ahmed’s petition to be released to a hotel in the country’s capital, ordering he remain in their custody.
The U.S. government requested his extradition Friday, the filing said.
Ahmed is accused of scheming with others to embezzle more than $15 million from the small West Side hospital. Ahmed and his co-conspirator in the case, Sameer Suhail, had been living in Dubai since 2024, according to reporting from Block Club Chicago. They left the country shortly before charges were announced, the site found.
The former executive is separately accused of participating in a fake COVID-19 testing scheme that netted him and his other co-conspirators nearly $300 million in federal funds. Between April 2021 and June 2022, Ahmed allegedly stole patient data from the hospital and used it to seek federal reimbursement for COVID-19 tests which were never actually performed.
Ahmed allegedly continued to collect COVID-19 samples on behalf of Loretto, even after he was no longer affiliated with the hospital, to make the purported tests appear legitimate.
In total, Ahmed and others sought reimbursement for more than $894.5 million in claims and received payments of more than $293 million.
The controversy at Loretto Hospital was first uncovered by Block Club Chicago in 2021.
The outlet reported the hospital vaccinated Trump Tower employees, where Ahmed had a condo, and held another event at a high-end Gold Coast watch store, Geneva Seal Fine Jewelry & Timepieces, which he frequented.
Ahmed resigned soon after this was brought to light.