Dental manager gets hefty prison term for $6M scam

A dental clinic manager was sentenced for his role in a $6 million bribery scheme in which marketers were paid to refer Medicaid-insured children to the Texas dental practice where he was employed, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

Ifeanyi Ozoh, 54, who worked as a manager at Floss Family Dental Care in Houston, was sentenced to 72 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, according to a press release dated November 13 from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas.

Additionally, Ozoh, who was convicted in February of one count of conspiracy to pay and receive healthcare kickbacks and two counts of payment of kickbacks to marketers by a U.S. jury, was ordered to pay $4.9 million in restitution to Medicaid. Ozoh remains on bond and will voluntarily surrender to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility soon, according to the press release.

At the sentencing, the court heard that Ozoh was integral to the kickback scheme, as he bribed marketers and parents to bring their Medicaid-insured children to a sham dental clinic while working there between January 2020 and February 2021. Ozoh is one of three employees arrested for their reported roles in the scheme.

At his trial, jurors heard testimony that Ozoh paid marketers between $20 and $100 for each Medicaid-insured child referred to Floss. Marketers testified that Ozoh slipped them cash secretly, sometimes leaving their illegal kickbacks on top of a vending machine located down the hall from the clinic.

One clinic manager at Floss testified that she repeatedly cautioned Ozoh that it was illegal to pay marketers. Medicaid prohibits the payment of kickbacks for referrals of medical services. Also, testimony revealed that Ozoh purportedly paid out more than $163,000 in bribes to marketers and received bonuses for meeting patient quotas, according to the release. From 2020 to 2021, Floss billed Medicaid over $6 million. Floss received over $4 million on those claims, most of which were predicated on kickbacks paid to marketers and for dental services that were not provided.

In January 2024, Ozoh's co-defendant and operator of Floss, Rene Gaviola, 68, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, five counts of substantive healthcare fraud, three counts of payment of kickbacks, six counts of money laundering, and five counts for conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks. In June, Gaviola was sentenced to 120 months in U.S. prison followed by three years of supervised release.

Gaviola reportedly admitted to submitting fake claims to Medicaid for reimbursement of pediatric dental services, including cavity fillings, that were provided between 2018 and  April 2021. Also, he admitted to employing an unlicensed person to treat children, operating the practice with no dentists, and paying kickbacks to marketers and caregivers of Medicaid-insured children to bring them to Floss for dental services. Finally, Gaviola admitted to laundering more than $100,000 in Medicaid funds from the Floss bank account to his personal bank account.

In June 2023, another former Floss manager, Christian Agno Aquino, 42, continues to await trial. He was charged with conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks, healthcare fraud, and conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud for his role in the scam. Aquino's charges were filed almost a year after Ozoh and Gaviola were charged.