Houston dental clinic employee imprisoned for bribery scheme

A Houston man has been sentenced following his conviction for conspiring to pay and receive health care kickbacks and paying kickbacks to marketers, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Texas.

The man, Ifeanyi Ozoh, worked at a dental clinic known as Floss Family Dentalcare Center from January 2020 to February 2021. During that time, Floss billed Medicaid more than $6 million and received more than $4 million on those claims, most of which were predicated on a kickback paid to marketers and for dental services that were not provided.

The release stated that Mr. Ozoh paid marketers $20 to $100 for each Medicaid-insured child referred to Floss. The marketers testified that Mr. Ozoh secretly paid them in cash and would put their illegal kickback payments on top of a vending machine down the hall from the clinic.

He also paid out more than $163,000 in bribes to marketers and received bonuses for reaching a quota of patients.

Mr. Ozoh was found guilty by a federal jury on Feb. 14. U.S. District Chief Judge Randy Crane has ordered Mr. Ozoh to serve 72 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release.