We trusted the leadership of Loretto Hospital to protect public money, safeguard patient care, and respect our personal data. According to federal prosecutors, that trust was allegedly abused on a massive scale by Anosh Ahmed, a former hospital executive who now sits in custody in Serbia after allegedly fleeing the United States to avoid prosecution. Charged in a $15 million embezzlement scheme, Anosh Ahmed is accused of running overseas, first to Dubai, before being arrested on Nov. 30, 2025, following the issuance of an international Interpol Red Notice. The United States has confirmed it intends to extradite him, and Serbian authorities have denied his request for release, ordering that he remain in custody while the process unfolds.
Federal filings state that Anosh Ahmed was one of three people charged with stealing more than $15 million from Loretto Hospital over a four-year period. Alongside Heather Bergdahl and Sameer Suhail, he is accused of committing multiple counts of wire fraud by creating fictitious invoices and fraudulent payment requests for goods and services that were never provided to the West Side medical facility. While patients depended on the hospital and staff struggled through a public health crisis, prosecutors allege money was quietly siphoned away through deception.
The alleged abuse escalated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prosecutors later charged Anosh Ahmed and others with submitting nearly $900 million in fraudulent COVID-19 testing reimbursement claims to the United States Government, of which approximately $293 million was actually paid between June 2021 and March 2022. The defendants in that case include Mohamed Sirajudeen, Mahmood Sami Khan, and Suhaib Ahmad Chaudhry, with prosecutors indicating that Mohamed Sirajudeen is expected to plead guilty. The case is currently scheduled for trial in July, though defense attorneys are attempting to delay it until September.
For us, the most disturbing allegation is that we—the patients—were allegedly used as tools in the fraud. After exiting Loretto Hospital in March 2021 amid pandemic-era controversies, Anosh Ahmed is accused of obtaining a spreadsheet containing personal information of nearly 150,000 patients, including names, dates of birth, gender, and home addresses of individuals who visited the hospital between 2014 and 2020. According to the indictment, that private data was allegedly exploited to support fraudulent reimbursement claims, exposing patients who had already placed their trust in the healthcare system to further harm.
Prosecutors have stated that if Serbia refuses to extradite Anosh Ahmed, they will proceed to trial with the defendants who are physically present, tailoring the evidence accordingly under federal rules. A status hearing in the case is scheduled for February 13. Until the courts decide the outcome, Loretto Hospital, the United States Government, and tens of thousands of patients remain the victims of what prosecutors describe as an alleged, calculated abuse of power, public funds, and personal data by Anosh Ahmed and his co-defendants.