Three Connecticut dental practices, together with their owners, have agreed with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut to pay $1.7 million to settle allegations that the practices violated federal and Connecticut False Claims Acts and the federal Anti-Kickback Statute. This and other recent settlements seem to be suggesting that a crackdown on Connecticut dentists is underway.
The Family Dentistry practices in Bridgeport, Hartford and Stamford owned by Stanislav Gintautas and Tatiana Agababaeva were accused of using illegal recruiting tactics in connection with Medicaid patients. The government alleged that from 2016 to 2018, the practices paid a recruiter $115 for each Connecticut Medicaid patient referred by the recruiter to the practices who received services beyond routine preventive care.
In a similar case, the owner of practices in New Haven and North Haven, Lakshmi Bethi, pleaded guilty to paying kickbacks to recruiters. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut’s press release stated that “between 2016 and 2023, Bethi paid the patient recruiters more than $360,000 in kickbacks, and Connecticut Medicaid reimbursed Bethi approximately $2.2 million for services rendered to patients recruited via kickbacks.” Bethi will forfeit $500,000 and could face up to five years in prison.
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