A Connecticut woman has been charged with stealing the identity of a retired dentist to operate a healthcare fraud scheme, the U.S. attorney's office announced.
Elene Ilizarov, 43, who is not licensed to practice dentistry in Connecticut, allegedly used the information to bill insurance companies through Advanced Dentistry, the dental practice she owns and operates, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut.
The alleged scheme resulted in losses of more than $1.1 million to several health insurance companies, the U.S. attorney's office reported. Ilizarov, who was charged with wire fraud, could be sentenced to 20 years in prison. She was released on a $500,000 bond and required to wear a GPS monitoring device.
Ilizarov was one of 301 medical and dental professionals nationwide who were arrested June 22 on criminal and civil charges for allegedly submitting more than $900 million in fraudulent billing to the Medicaid and Medicare programs.
The federal complaint alleges that Ilizarov started using the retired dentist's information in 2005 to bill insurance companies for dental care allegedly done by the retired dentist.
"This alleged scheme victimized a retired dentist who had his identity stolen, as well as multiple insurance companies that paid more than a million dollars in fraudulent claims," said U.S. Attorney Deirdre Daly in a statement.
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