OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. – An Oakland County medical biller was sentenced Friday to 50 months in prison for her role in a $7.3 million Medicare and Medicaid fraud scheme involving medical services that were billed to Medicare and Medicaid but not rendered as billed, the United States Department of Justice announced.
Dawn Bentley, 56, was ordered to pay $3,253,107 in restitution jointly and severally with her co-defendants.
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After a one-week jury trial in January, Bentley was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, wire fraud and mail fraud, as well as one count of mail fraud. Bentley was sentenced to 50 months in prison on each of the two counts, to run concurrently, followed by one year of supervised release.
Court records show from June 2014 through June 2015, Bentley knowingly submitted fraudulent bills on behalf of a co-conspirator physician for fake services she knew had not been provided. In exchange, Bentley was paid 6 percent of the total billings paid to the physician from Medicare, the evidence showed.
Bentley’s largest client was Waseem Alam, who pleaded guilty to a $33 million Medicare fraud scheme in March 2016.
Bentley billed $1.9 million of the fraud from June 2014 to June 2015, and was paid 6 percent of Alam’s receipts for the fraudulent billings, the evidence showed.
Bentley’s company received over $100,000 from Alam’s practices during that time period, the evidence showed.