By Gabriella Ogbu
Ifeanyi Ozoh, a 54-year-old Nigerian residing in the United States, has been sentenced to six years in Federal Prison for orchestrating a $6 million bribery and Medicaid fraud scheme.
In addition to his prison term, Ozoh was ordered to pay $4.9 million in restitution and will serve three years of supervised release after his incarceration.
The U.S. Department of Justice revealed the verdict in a statement issued by U.S. Attorney Alamdar Hamdani on Wednesday.
The scheme involved paying bribes to marketers and families to recruit Medicaid-insured patients for a sham dental clinic that submitted fraudulent insurance claims.
Ozoh’s conviction followed a three-day trial in which a federal jury deliberated for just an hour before finding him guilty on February 14.
U.S. District Chief Judge Randy Crane handed down the sentence, highlighting Ozoh’s pivotal role in the fraudulent operation.
According to court documents, Ozoh bribed marketers with payments ranging from $20 to $100 for every Medicaid-insured child referred to the fake Floss Family Dentalcare Centre.
Testimonies revealed that Ozoh often left cash bribes on a vending machine to avoid detection, ignoring warnings from a clinic manager about the illegality of his actions.
Between 2020 and 2021, the clinic submitted over $6 million in fraudulent claims to Medicaid, receiving more than $4 million in payouts for non-existent dental services.
Ozoh personally paid over $163,000 in bribes to sustain the scheme.
While Ozoh has been sentenced, he remains on bond and will voluntarily surrender to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility at a later date. Authorities stress that this case underscores the ongoing fight against healthcare fraud in the United States.
