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TexasTowelie

(112,712 posts)
Sat Apr 6, 2019, 08:15 AM Apr 2019

Unlicensed Dentist Sentenced To 2 Years In Prison For Healthcare Fraud, Conspiracy To Commit Health-

Unlicensed Dentist Sentenced To 2 Years In Prison For Healthcare Fraud, Conspiracy To Commit Healthcare Fraud, And Conspiracy To Violate The Anti-Kickback Statute


Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that LUIS OMAR VARGAS, an unlicensed dentist, was sentenced to two years in prison for defrauding health insurance companies by billing for false claims, billing for claims performed by him as an unlicensed provider, and for conspiring to pay kickbacks to his patients. VARGAS was convicted after two-week jury trial before U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams, who imposed today’s sentence.

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “Luis Omar Vargas and his co-defendants devised a scheme to defraud insurance companies by charging them for services never performed. In addition, Vargas, who is not a licensed dentist, charged insurance companies for services he was not even licensed to perform. Now Vargas will spend time in prison for his financial crimes.”

According to allegations in the Indictment and evidence introduced at trial:

From 2012 through November 2017, in the Southern District of New York and elsewhere, VARGAS and others conspired and participated in a scheme to defraud insurance providers of more than $2 million. VARGAS and others induced patients to be seen at a dental clinic on the Upper West Side of Manhattan by offering patients a $25 cash kickback. Once the patients were in the door, VARGAS and his co-conspirators charged insurance companies for services that were never performed and for services performed by VARGAS that he was not licensed to perform.

Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/unlicensed-dentist-sentenced-2-years-prison-healthcare-fraud-conspiracy-commit
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