Dental Practice Owner From South Windsor Guilty In Kickback Scheme

NEW HAVEN, CT — A South Windsor resident who has owned dental practices in New Haven and North Haven pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of conspiring to violate a federal anti-kickback statute.

Lakshmi Bethi, 48, waived her right to be indicted and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in New Haven, according to Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, Robert Fuller, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Roberto Coviello, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General,

According to court documents and statements made in court, Bethi has been a licensed dentist in Connecticut since 2013. In pleading guilty, she admitted to conspiring with multiple individuals, including Jeffrey Malave, who agreed to recruit Medicaid beneficiaries to attend dental appointments with Bethi for dental services that she then billed to Connecticut Medicaid, Avery said.

In exchange, Bethi agreed to pay kickbacks to the recruiters, who then passed on a portion of the kickbacks to the patients as an incentive to attend the dental appointments. Between 2016 and 2023, Bethi paid the patient recruiters more than $360,000 in kickbacks, and Connecticut Medicaid reimbursed Bethi approximately $2.2 million for services rendered to patients recruited via kickbacks, Avery said.

Conspiracy to violate the federal anti-kickbacks statute carries a maximum term of imprisonment of five years. As part of her plea, Bethi has agreed to forfeit $500,000, according to Avery.

Bethi is released on bond pending sentencing, which is not scheduled.

Malave, 48, of Shelton, pleaded guilty to related charges on February 28, 2024, and awaits sentencing.