A California dentist and his former billing manager were recently sentenced for Medicare fraud.
Javad Aghaloo, DDS, and his former billing manager, Melissa Rosas, conspired to commit Medicare fraud by billing for procedures that were not covered, not performed or otherwise not necessary, according to a Jan. 26 news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California.
Dr. Aghaloo operated two dental offices in California. Between March 1, 2016, and October 18, 2018, Dr. Aghaloo’s offices submitted more than 7,000 false claims to Medicare totaling more than $18 million. The dental offices received $8,476,466.23, according to the news release.
Ms. Rosas and Theresa Flores, Dr. Aghaloo’s office manager, submitted false documents to a federal auditor to conceal the fraud.
Dr. Aghaloo pleaded guilty in October to conspiracy to commit health care fraud, while Ms. Rosas pleaded guilty to obstructing a federal audit. Ms. Flores pleaded guilty to obstructing an audit and will be sentenced March 8.
Dr. Aghaloo was sentenced to 37 months in prison and will pay $8.5 million in restitution. Additionally, he was ordered to forfeit more than $1 million in property purchased with money obtained from the fraud.
Ms. Rosas was sentenced to three years of probation with one year of home confinement.