Quest Diagnostics pays more than $13M to settle alleged kickback scheme, federal prosecutors say

Quest Diagnostics, the medical testing lab with more than two dozen Long Island locations, paid more than $13 million to settle an alleged kickback scheme involving plying hospital executives with VIP tickets to New York Giants games, federal prosecutors said.

From July 2013 to August 2022 the Secaucus, New Jersey-based company coaxed medical providers to use their lab services through tickets to MetLife Stadium luxury suites, training camp access and family day events involving the Giants, according to a news release from the office of Northern New Jersey U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer.

Quest then submitted bills for those services through the government-funded medical plans, authorities said, a violation of the anti-kickback statute.

The Giants were not accused of any wrongdoing. The team could not be reached Sunday for comment.

"Kickbacks to referring providers, especially by lab companies, corrupt medical judgment, lead to unnecessary lab testing, cause providers to steer patients to labs that offer inducements, and squander taxpayer money," Frazer said in a statement.

Quest accountants tracked the amount of business they were getting from clients who had gone to games for one year to gauge the return on their investment

Under the agreement, the settlement is not an admission of guilt.

Quest Diagnostics spokesperson Wendy Bost did not immediately return an email from Newsday on Sunday seeking comment.

The lab company’s executive director for medical affairs, as well as a Nevada doctor and a New Hampshire gynecologist, tipped federal investigators off to the alleged scheme in a whistleblower lawsuit filed in the fall of 2020.

One hospital executive mentioned in the lawsuit was allegedly invited to a Giants game against the Seattle Seahawks in October 2017 to persuade him to steer $1.8 million in business to Quest.

Under the settlement with the federal government, Quest also agreed to five years of scrutiny and auditing by the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Under the federal whistleblower law, called the False Claims Act, the tipsters are entitled to a piece of the money recovered by the government.

In this case, the three medical professionals will split $2.5 million for telling federal investigators about the alleged crime.

Quest reported $11 billion in revenue in 2025, a 7% increase over the year before.