PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — The embattled former head of Reditus Laboratories was to go to trial later this year, but after both sides asked, a federal judge pushed the matter back to early next year.
Aaron Rossi, who remains in custody after violating bond conditions, will get his day in court on Feb. 26, 2024, in the courtroom of Chief U.S. District Judge Sara Darrow. The judge approved the move after both prosecutors and Team Rossi asked for the delay.
Rossi was to go to trial in December on federal fraud charges related to misuse of funds from a Bloomington medical practice years before he helped create Reditus, a company that became a biotech darling and one of the largest companies to do COVID-19 testing before it was shuttered last year due to lawsuits from former business partners.
Darrow will hold a pretrial conference in late November to hear motions and other issues prior to the trial
Rossi is facing federal mail fraud charges related to the alleged misuse of funds from a Bloomington medical practice. All the counts allegedly occurred in 2017 while he was working at Central Illinois Orthopedic Surgery, and claims he used his position as an office manager for his own gain.
He allegedly moved the practice’s bank account to a different institution and changed accountants. He also allegedly made misleading and false entries in the firm’s financial records to hide this. The indictments list the practice as a victim as well as two doctors who owned the practice, listed in the indictment as “Victims A and B.”
If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
