A Montgomery County man has been indicted by a federal grand jury in connection with an alleged COVID-19 healthcare fraud scheme involving more than $100 million in claims, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.
Marc Aaron Potash, 57, of Rockville, is charged with conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, seven counts of healthcare fraud and five counts of conducting transactions in criminally derived proceeds.
According to the indictment, Potash was the founder and CEO of Tiero, LLC, a company located in Gaithersburg. Federal prosecutors allege that between January 2022 and May 2026, Potash and his co-conspirators (who were not named by the U.S. Attorney’s Office) used the company to submit false and fraudulent claims to Medicare, Medicaid, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and other insurers for at-home, self-administered COVID-19 tests.
Prosecutors allege Potash and his co-conspirators sent false emails, letters and other paperwork to the Maryland Department of Health to obtain a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments certification for Tiero. The documents allegedly portrayed Tiero medical providers as performing on-site COVID-19 testing at the company’s purported laboratory.
According to the indictment, the company’s CLIA certification was then used to submit claims to insurers containing false dates of service, places of service and rendering providers for COVID-19 tests purportedly administered or analyzed by a Tiero provider.
Federal prosecutors allege that, in reality, Tiero was shipping over-the-counter, self-administered COVID-19 tests to insured individuals across the country. In total, Potash and his co-conspirators allegedly caused more than $100 million in false and fraudulent healthcare claims to be submitted, resulting in more than $50 million in insurance payments to Tiero.
The indictment also accuses Potash of conducting several transactions involving proceeds allegedly derived from the scheme. According to prosecutors, those purchases and transactions included a Range Rover, a Mercedes-Benz, a $4 million property in Beallsville and two securities transfers totaling more than $4 million and $8 million, respectively.
If convicted, Potash faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison for the conspiracy charge, each healthcare fraud count and each count involving transactions in criminally derived proceeds. An indictment is not a finding of guilt. Potash is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court. The U.S. Attorney’s Office does not provide photographs of defendants.
