WESTLAKE VILLAGE - The chief executive of a US biotechnology company that falsely promised investors it could produce a quick and accurate Covid-19 test was sentenced to seven years’ in jail on April 12, the US Justice Department said.

Keith Berman, 70, of Westlake Village, California, pleaded guilty in December 2023 to securities fraud totaling around US$28 million (S$38.1 million).

The Justice Department said that from February to December 2020, Berman falsely claimed his Decision Diagnostics company had developed a 15-second test to detect Covid-19 in a finger prick sample of blood when, in reality, no such test existed.

“Berman defrauded investors to profit from the pandemic,” Ms Nicole Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s criminal division, said in a statement.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission had sued the company and Berman in December 2020. REUTERS