Former dentist pleads guilty to healthcare fraud

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Bilal Ahmed, 47, of Potomac, Maryland, pled guilty on September 6, 2019, to a federal charge of health care fraud carried out through a scheme that defrauded the District of Columbia’s Medicaid program of more than $5 million.

The announcement was made Sept. 13, by today by U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jessie K. Liu and other law enforcement officials engaged with investigating the case.

Ahmed is currently serving a 16-year sentence for sexually assaulting patients.

For the most recent crimes of health care fraud, Ahmed was indicted in January 2019, along with his former office manager, on one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, one count of health care fraud, and five counts of wire fraud.

Ahmed pled guilty to Count II of the Indictment and the remaining charges will be dismissed at sentencing.  The charge carries a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and potential financial penalties, a press release from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, said.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, Ahmed faces a likely range of 57 to 71 months in prison and a fine of up to $200,000.

Ahmed’s plea agreement with the government requires him to pay $5,421,227 in restitution and $3,978,879.93 in a forfeiture money judgment.

While the government has agreed to join in Ahmed’s request for a sentence that runs concurrently with the 16-year sentence that he currently is serving for sexually assaulting patients, that request is not binding on the Court.

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly scheduled sentencing for January 17, 2020.

Details of the case as outlined in the press release show Ahmed was a practicing dentist who owned and operated Universal Smiles, a dental practice, in Northwest, Washington, D.C.

When Ahmed’s dental license was suspended by the D.C. Dentistry Board, and subsequently was surrendered by him, Ahmed opened and operated Dental Equipment and Services (“DES”), a Maryland company that employed dentists on contract to work at Universal Smiles’ former business location in the District of Columbia.

Through Universal Smiles and DES, prosecutors said, Ahmed and his office manager defrauded D.C. Medicaid from August 9, 2012, through February 26, 2014, D.C. Medicaid paid Universal Smiles approximately $12.4 million; and it paid DES approximately $1.2 million from November 17, 2014, though February 1, 2016.  According to the Department of Justice press release, of the more than $13 million that D.C. Medicaid paid to Universal Smiles and DES, approximately $5.4 million was for provisional crowns. Of the $5.4 million that D.C. Medicaid paid for provisional crowns, Ahmed got approximately $4 million, and the office manager got approximately $1.4 million.