Anosh Ahmed, the former Chicago hospital finance chief accused of bilking millions from the federal government, has been arrested in Serbia.
That’s according to a Jan. 28 filing in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Ahmed had been serving as CFO of Chicago-area safety-net hospital Loretto Hospital until he quit in March 2021 amid controversies surrounding fraudulent COVID-19 tests, first documented by local outlet Block Club Chicago. Since then, he is believed to have left the U.S. for Dubai, but apparently found himself in Serbia by late 2025.
Per the latest court filing, the United States government first received notice of Ahmed’s arrest in Serbia on Nov. 30, 2025. Shortly after learning of his arrest, the American government told the eastern European country it intended to seek extradition and submitted a formal “extradition package” on Jan. 23.
U.S. officials said they learned on Dec. 30, 2025, that a Serbian court denied Ahmed’s petition to be released to a Belgrade hotel and ordered him to remain in Serbian custody.
As of now, Ahmed’s trial date is set for July 2026, though that’s subject to a pending request by Ahmed’s attorney to push the trial to September 2026, according to the filing.
Ahmed has been accused of orchestrating a “single, widespread scheme to submit more than $800 million in false claims to the United States Health Resources and Services Administration for reimbursement of COVID-19 testing of uninsured individuals,” the filing stated. The scheme unfolded from June 2021 through March 2022, according to the filing, which was submitted by the office of U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Andrew Boutros.
As part of the scheme, Ahmed and others are accused of accessing personal data of more than 150,000 patients to get reimbursement for COVID-19 tests that were never administered.
Ahmed also came under controversy in the early days of the pandemic when vaccinations first began rolling out on a limited basis. Back in 2021, Ahmed and other Loretto Hospital execs held vaccination events at high-end locations, including watch dealers and Trump Tower in Chicago. That runs in contrast to Loretto’s mission as a safety-net hospital.
The Loretto Hospital Foundation’s own website describes such health providers as those that are “typically located in asset-deficient communities and driven by the mission to provide comprehensive healthcare, regardless of insurance status or the ability to pay.”
Ahmed was first charged with wire fraud in July 2024. Then, just about a year later, he faced another charge of defrauding the federal government of hundreds of millions of dollars.
