Ex-dentist in DC pleads guilty to $5M in Medicaid fraud

A former dentist in the Washington, DC, area who is already in jail for sexually assaulting patients has pleaded guilty for his part in a scheme to defraud his local Medicaid program out of approximately $5 million.

Bilal Ahmed, 47, of Potomac, MD, pleaded guilty to one federal charge of healthcare fraud, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia stated in a press release on September 13.

Federal sentencing guidelines call for a range of 57 to 71 months in prison and a fine of up to $200,000. His plea agreement calls for Ahmed to pay about $5.4 million in restitution and approximately $4 million in a forfeiture money judgment.

Prosecutors have joined Ahmed's request to have his healthcare fraud sentence run concurrently with the term he is now serving. The court is not bound by this request. Ahmed's sentencing is scheduled for January 17, 2020.

In 2017, Ahmed began serving a 16.5-year sentence for sexually assaulting five patients and an employee while they were under sedation for dental treatment, according to an earlier release from the U.S. attorney's office. He also is serving time for improperly touching another employee. All of these incidents occurred between 2010 and 2014.

Ahmed and his office manager were indicted in the healthcare fraud case in January 2019. The indictment stems from the time Ahmed owned and operated the Universal Smiles dental practice in northwestern Washington, DC.

When Ahmed's DC dental license was suspended in November 2014, he surrendered his business, according to the release. Then, he started the Maryland-based Dental Equipment and Services, a company that employed dentists on a contract basis to work at his former Universal Smiles location.

Through Universal Smiles and the business in Maryland, Ahmed and his office manager allegedly defrauded the Washington, DC, Medicaid program from August 2012 through February 2014. The federally funded insurance program that assists low-income families paid Universal Smiles approximately $12.4 million and approximately $1.2 million to Dental Equipment and Services, the U.S. district attorney's office stated.

About $5.4 million was paid to both companies for provisional crowns. Of this amount, Ahmed pocketed $4 million, and his office manager got about $1.4 million, the release stated.

After Ahmed was arrested on the sex assault charges in January 2016, his Maryland dental license was suspended in April 2016, according to a 2017 release.