Press Releases

01/07/2025

Attorney General Tong Announces $608,296 False Claims Settlement With Dentist Over Prohibited Patient Recruiting Fees

(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong and United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut Vanessa Roberts Avery today announced a $608,296 settlement agreement with Lakshmi Bethi, DMD (“Bethi”) and her business entities, New Haven Family Dental LLC, New Haven Family Dental Group LLC; and New Haven Dental LLC and, resolving allegations that they violated state and federal False Claims Act statutes through prohibited fees paid to a “patient recruiting” company.

In a related criminal matter, Bethi pleaded guilty on September 5, 2024, to conspiracy to violate the federal anti-kickback statute. As part of her plea, Bethi forfeited $500,000 and was sentenced to two years of probation.

This is the third settlement arising from ongoing joint civil investigations with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the federal Department of Health and Human Services – Office of Inspector General, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation into alleged kickback-tainted claims for services rendered to Connecticut Medicaid patients referred by third-party patient recruiting companies.

Bethi and her business entities were enrolled in the Connecticut Medical Assistance Program (“CMAP”), which includes the Connecticut Medicaid program.

From January 2019, through April 6, 2023, the dental businesses are alleged to have paid a third-party patient recruiting company $110 for each Connecticut Medicaid patient the company referred to them, whenever a patient received dental services over and above routine preventative care (such as dental cleanings and exams). The State of Connecticut and the United States contend that the alleged conduct was prohibited by the federal anti-kickback statute, 42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7b(b), as well as the CMAP provider agreement and the Connecticut Dental Health Partnership (“CTDHP”) provider manual.

“Paying kickbacks for patient recruitment is illegal. Dentists participating in Connecticut’s public healthcare programs are responsible for knowing the law. This is the third settlement arising from ongoing joint investigations, and we will continue to work closely with our state and federal partners to aggressively protect the integrity of our public healthcare programs,” said Attorney General Tong.

Anyone with knowledge of suspected fraud or abuse in the public healthcare system is asked to contact the Attorney General’s Government Fraud Section at 860-808-5040 or by email at ag.fraud@ct.gov; the Connecticut Medicaid Fraud Control Unit at 860-258-5986 or by email at conndcj@ct.gov; or the Connecticut Department of Social Services fraud reporting hotline at 1-800-842-2155, online at www.ct.gov/dss/reportingfraud, or by email to providerfraud.dss@ct.gov.

Assistant Attorney General Joshua L. Jackson, Legal Investigator Timothy Edwards, and Deputy Associate Attorney General Gregory O’Connell, Chief of the Government Fraud Section, assisted the Attorney General in this matter.

Twitter: @AGWilliamTong

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Media Contact:

Elizabeth Benton
elizabeth.benton@ct.gov

Consumer Inquiries:

860-808-5318
attorney.general@ct.gov