In an update to an October 18, 2023, story, dentist Javad Aghaloo has been sentenced to 37 months in prison for defrauding Medicare and then covering it up. He was ordered to pay almost $8.5 million in restitution. His former billing manager, Melissa Rosas, was sentenced to three years of probation with one year of home confinement for obstructing Medicare’s efforts to audit Aghaloo’s dental offices by providing false information. Read a Department of Justice press release.
Dentist Dr. Javad Aghaloo and office manager Theresa Flores admitted that they conspired to defraud Medicare and cover it up. According to court records, Aghaloo and others recruited Medicare beneficiaries to get dental work done at one of Aghaloo’s offices. To recruit Medicare patients, Aghaloo and Flores marketed dental services as being covered by Medicare. Aghaloo and others performed some type of procedure (usually a tooth extraction) and submitted false claims to Medicare using the person’s Medicare beneficiary number. Since tooth extractions are not covered by Medicare, Aghaloo’s offices instead submitted false claims for procedures like bone grafts that were never performed. Read a story from FOX 5 and a Department of Justice press release.