CHICAGO — The aftershocks of the “Broadview Six” case collapse have now spread to another high-profile case, where lawyers for a Texas man accused of being a low-level participant in a massive COVID-19 testing scam with a former Loretto Hospital executive say the same federal prosecutor committed “flagrant and pervasive” misconduct in the grand jury.

In a filing Tuesday night, attorneys for Mahmood Sami Khan said the indictment against him should be thrown out due to the revelations of misconduct by the U.S. attorney’s office, both in the grand jury — which was the same panel that ultimately returned an indictment in the Broadview case — and in a later attempt to cover up what had happened.

The filing alleged an unidentified assistant U.S. attorney — which records show is Sheri Mecklenburg — improperly provided assurances to the grand jury from the outset about the strength of the evidence against Khan, a violation known legally as “vouching.”

“The grand jury presentation began with a shocking instance of vouching,” attorney Gabrielle Sansonetti and Patrick Blegen wrote. “The misconduct continued from there over the course of many months and many witnesses.”

Grand jury transcripts since turned over to the defense show, according to the motion, that prosecutors induced the panel to indict Khan using “foregone-conclusion framing,” misstating the standards for conspiracy and aiding-and-abetting charges, and mischaracterizing Khan’s knowledge of miscoding of COVID-19 take home tests.

The filing also stated it appeared the U.S. Attorney’s Office “was on notice of problems with (Mecklenburg) for many months before it alerted defense counsel but failed to take proactive action.”

Instead of notifying the defense of the issues, it wasn’t until Friday — the day after the Broadview Six case imploded — that prosecutors told the defense in a video conference that the grand jury that indicted Khan’s case was the same potentially tainted panel, the motion alleged.

Prosecutors told the defense that “in an abundance of caution,” they planned to seek a superseding indictment to fix any potential taint by the prosecutor’s misconduct, according to the motion. The office had no further comment.

The motion, which was joined Tuesday night by attorneys for co-defendant Suhaib Ahmad Chaudhry, asks U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman to dismiss the indictment, or at least grant the defense an evidentiary hearing.

The filing was the first instance of the controversy surrounding the “Broadview Six” indictment spreading to another case — but likely not the last. The U.S. attorney’s office said it is conducting an ongoing review of the matter, including other cases where Mecklenburg was involved.

The indictment alleged former Loretto Hospital executive Anosh Ahmed orchestrated a scheme to use laboratories — some of which were allegedly operated by Khan — in Illinois and Texas to submit nearly $900 million in false claims to the government from April 2021 to June 2022, prompting more than $293 million in fraudulent reimbursements.

Khan has denied any knowledge that the tests were faked or that he stood to profit at all from the number of tests performed. A jury trial for Khan, Chauhdry, and a fourth defendant, Mohamed Sirajudeen, is tentatively set for July 9, though that seems unlikely to go forward given the new allegations.

Ahmed, who fled to Dubai before he was indicted and is now in custody in Serbia awaiting extradition, is also charged in a separate scheme to bilk Loretto of funds through fraudulent invoicing.

Hours before the filing in Khan’s case, a defense attorney for the “Broadview Six” told a different federal judge he has “reason to believe” that U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros had personal contact with the grand jury and asked federal prosecutors to preserve any communications about the matter.

The comment in open court by attorney Christopher Parente, who represents Oak Park Trustee Brian Straw, was not expounded upon, and further discussion of the matter was done in the judge’s chambers. Parente said that if such contact by Boutros did occur, they believe it should be disclosed.

Later Tuesday, the U.S. attorney’s office issued a written statement saying that since returning in April 2025 to become the district’s top prosecutor, Boutros “has not appeared before any grand jury on any particular case.”

“Any appearance he has made in the grand juries has been in his capacity as the Chief Legal Advisor to the federal grand juries of this district, including to welcome them when they were impaneled or to advise generally on the role, function, and importance of the grand jury in our constitutional system of government and laws,” the statement read.

More details could be learned Wednesday, when the defense is scheduled to file a motion further explaining requests to preserve evidence in the case.

The Broadview Six case was beset by controversy from the moment the indictment was brought last October as the defense has alleged the case was brought amid pressure from the administration of President Donald Trump and was nothing more than an attempt to silence protesters of the president’s harsh immigration policies.

Prosecutors alleged the defendants were part of a group that surrounded an ICE vehicle outside the Broadview facility during a Sept. 26 protest and “banged aggressively” on the vehicle’s side and back windows, hood and doors, and crowded together to impede the vehicle.

But the case completely collapsed last week after U.S. District Judge April Perry was given unredacted transcripts of the grand jury proceedings and held an emergency hearing where she said she had “never seen the types of prosecutorial behavior before a grand jury that I saw in those transcripts.”

“Your sole goal is to do justice,” Perry told the team of prosecutors during a remarkable closed-door session on Thursday, according to a transcript of that hearing later made public. “Your client is justice itself. I do believe deeply in the presumption of regularity and that most government attorneys are doing the best they can to do the right thing. That trust has been broken.”

An hour later, Boutros had just left a swearing-in ceremony for six new assistant U.S. attorneys when he made a rare appearance in court to personally apologize to the judge and announce he was dismissing all charges against the remaining four defendants in the case.

The fallout continued on Friday, when U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin’s office announced that Mecklenburg had been terminated from her new role with the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington.

Boutros, meanwhile, has acknowledged there was misconduct in the grand jury. But he also publicly and privately defended the merits of bringing the case, saying the evidence showed a crime was committed and that his team was fully prepared to go to trial on Tuesday on the misdemeanor counts of impeding a federal official.

In an all-office email sent Thursday night, Boutros told his staff it was a “tough but important day” for the office, but doubled down on the defense of the case, calling the trial team of three prosecutors “courageous.”

“While I firmly believe that a crime was committed, this case was beset with a number of challenges,” Boutros wrote in the email, which was obtained by the Tribune. “But make no mistake, today was an important day for the Office. … These prosecutors fought for the rule of law and fought for the safety and security of our federal officials and employees—and, we thank them for that.”

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