Connecticut Dentist Pleads Guilty to Violating Federal Anti-Kickback Law

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, Robert Fuller, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Roberto Coviello, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General, today announced that LAKSHMI BETHI, 48, of South Windsor, waived her right to be indicted and pleaded guilty yesterday before U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in New Haven to conspiracy to violate the federal anti-kickback statute.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Bethi has been a licensed dentist in Connecticut since 2013 and has owned dental practices in New Haven and North Haven.  In pleading guilty, Bethi admitted that she conspired with multiple individuals, including Jeffrey Malave, who agreed to recruit Medicaid beneficiaries to attend dental appointments with Bethi for dental services that she then billed to Connecticut Medicaid.  In exchange, Bethi agreed to pay kickbacks to the recruiters, who then passed on a portion of the kickbacks to the patients as an incentive to attend the dental appointments.  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.

Conspiracy to violate the federal anti-kickbacks statute carries a maximum term of imprisonment of five years.  As part of her plea, Bethi has agreed to forfeit $500,000.

Bethi is released on bond pending sentencing, which is not scheduled.

Malave, 48, of Shelton, pleaded guilty to related charges on February 28, 2024, and awaits sentencing.

The investigation revealed that Malave also recruited Medicaid patients for other dentists and dental practices.  On March 7, 2024, a federal grand jury in Bridgeport returned an indictment charging Hamed Ghorbani-Moghaddam, a dentist who practiced in Bridgeport, with one count of conspiracy to violate the anti-kickback statute, and five counts of offering and paying health care kickbacks.  Ghorbani-Moghaddam, 46, who resided in Southington, is currently being sought by law enforcement.

As to Ghorbani-Moghaddam, U.S. Attorney Avery stressed that an indictment is not evidence of guilt.  Charges are only allegations, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.      

This matter is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG), the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Connecticut Chief State’s Attorney’s Office, the Connecticut Attorney General’s Office, and the Connecticut Department of Social Services.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elena L. Coronado.

People who suspect health care fraud are encouraged to report it by calling 1-800-HHS-TIPS.