A federal grand jury in Greenbelt, Maryland, has indicted a Rockville man on charges that he and co-conspirators submitted more than $100 million in fraudulent health insurance claims for at-home COVID-19 tests, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday.
Marc Aaron Potash, 57, faces one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, seven counts of health care fraud, and five counts of conducting transactions involving criminally derived proceeds, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.
What prosecutors allege
According to the indictment, Potash — the founder and chief executive officer of Tiero, LLC, a Gaithersburg-based company — conspired with others between January 2022 and May 2026 to enrich himself through false claims to Medicare, Medicaid, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) and other insurers.
Prosecutors allege that Potash and his co-conspirators sent false emails, letters and paperwork to the Maryland Department of Health to obtain a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) certification for Tiero, falsely portraying the company’s medical providers as performing on-site COVID-19 testing at its purported laboratory. Using that license, they allegedly submitted insurance claims listing false dates of service, a fake place of service and a phony rendering provider.
In reality, prosecutors say, the operation merely shipped over-the-counter, self-administered COVID-19 tests to insured individuals across the country. The alleged scheme produced more than $100 million in false claims, resulting in more than $50 million in insurance payments to Tiero, the indictment says.
Alleged spending of proceeds
The indictment further alleges that Potash channeled the proceeds into luxury purchases, including a Range Rover, a Mercedes-Benz and a $4 million property in Beallsville, Maryland, along with two securities transfers totaling more than $4 million and $8 million respectively.
If convicted, Potash faces a maximum of 10 years in federal prison on each count. The case was announced by U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes alongside the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the Office of Personnel Management OIG. The prosecution is part of the Trump administration’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud.
An indictment is not a finding of guilt. Potash is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court. No plea has been publicly reported, and Potash’s attorney could not immediately be reached for comment, according to local media.
Sources: U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland; Bethesda Magazine. All allegations are attributed to prosecutors as stated in the indictment.
