Judge grants injunction to prevent shuttered COVID testing company from operating in King County
SEATTLE - A King County judge granted a preliminary injunction preventing a COVID testing company that the state Attorney General called ‘a scam’ from operating in the state.
FOX 13 News was first to report about the issues locally involving "Center for Covid Control" when complaints about ‘fake tests’ were reported at the company's pop-up storefront location in Seattle’s International District.
"Their conduct was not just illegal, it was unethical and it literally jeopardized the health of thousands of Washingtonians all in the pursuit of the profit," Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson told FOX 13 on Friday.
"The conduct was so egregious, the judge agreed with us. It needs to be put to a stop immediately while the case proceeds," he said.
The Attorney General filed a lawsuit in King County Superior Court in January against the Illinois-based company, accusing it of ‘providing invalid, false and delayed COVID-19 test results."
"They instructed their employees to lie to Washingtonians every day when those Washingtonians called saying 'where are my test results? You promised those in 48 hours," Ferguson said.
COVID-19 testing sites under investigation after complaints allege 'fake tests'
Complaints have started to surface across the country at pop-up COVID-19 testing sites operated by The Center for Covid Control. Some say they received a negative result before they were even tested.
"They literally stored in trash bags, unrefrigerated COVID test samples and left them there for days, which obviously ruins them," he said. "They posted dated tests so they can actually, later on, claim a test was legit even though it had been tested long past the due date."
The company had opened up 13 temporary storefronts and advertised it could provide rapid antigen test results in 15 minutes and the more-accurate PCR test result in 48 hours.
The company suspended all operations at its 300 testing sites nationwide on Jan. 13. Its website now says operations have been suspended "indefinitely."
A request for comment about the injunction was sent to the company via email on Friday. We have not received a reply.
"In turns of people protecting themselves, it’s not always easy," Ferguson says.
He says several people filed complaints to his office, and that’s what is needed to launch an investigation.
A judge could eventually rule in favor of the State of Washington and order restitution to the state or people who believe they were misled.
According to the Attorney General’s office, the company billed the federal government $124 million in tests for ‘uninsured’ patients. If patients could not immediately provide their insurance information, they were marked as uninsured; by the end of their operations, they had ‘uninsured’ autofilled on their forms for every patient, even if they were insured.
Ferguson’s lawsuit against the company demands they stop all false test reporting, pay up to $12,500 for each violation of the Consumer Protection Act, pay $5,000 in enhanced penalties for targeting vulnerable populations and relinquish any profits the company made from unlawful conduct.
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