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Federal grand jury charges owner of D.C. dental clinic with defrauding Bureau of National Affairs and others in health care and false statements case

Washington, D.C. - A federal grand jury in the District of Columbia has charged the owner and operator of a dental clinic with health care fraud and false statements, U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Wainstein, Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Washington Field Office Joseph Persichini, Jr., Thomas Hampton, Commissioner of the District of Columbia Department of Insurance, Securities, and Banking, and Dr. Gregg Pane of the District of Columbia Department of Health, announced today.

Afsaneh Tehrani, 47, of Old Dominion Drive, McLean, Virginia, was indicted by the grand jury yesterday. She will be presented on the charges this afternoon before a U.S. Magistrate Judge. The FBI has seized $148,000 from accounts of the defendant, who faces in excess of 50 years of incarceration if she is convicted of all counts in the indictment.

According to the Indictment, the defendant was the owner, operator, President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer of D.C. Dentistry, a dental clinic located at Suite 910, 1712 I Street, NW, Washington, D.C. Although the defendant was not a dentist, D.C. Dentistry employed dentists who provided dental services to patients.

From on or about November 22, 1997, and continuing until on or about June 24, 2005, the defendant allegedly executed a scheme to obtain money by submitting insurance claims, which she prepared, to insurance companies. The false claims were for dental procedures which had not been performed; for identical claims to two insurance companies for performed dental procedures; and for identical claims to two insurance companies for dental procedures which had not been performed. The defendant would falsify the dates when procedures had been performed, and she altered or destroyed patient records of D.C. Dentistry. The defendant also falsely claimed that a water leak caused damage to patient records in D.C. Dentistry.

The Bureau of National Affairs was listed in the indictment as an insured entity along with the insurance companies Aetna Life Insurance Company; Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (Metlife); Cigna Corporation, also known as Connecticut General Life Insurance; HumanaDental; Delta Dental of New York; and MAMSI Life and Health Insurance Company.

In announcing the Indictment, U.S. Attorney Wainstein, Acting Assistant Director in Charge Persichini, and Commissioner Hamptom praised the joint investigative efforts of the investigators: Special Agents Sherri Queener and Chadwick Elgersma and Financial Analyst Leslie Smith of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Senior Fraud Investigator Carl Ditchey of the Enforcement and Investigations Bureau of the D.C. Department of Insurance, Securities, and Banking; and Investigators Greg Scurlock and Mark Donatelli of the District of Columbia Department of Health. They also commended Assistant U.S. Attorneys Judith A. Kidwell of the Asset Forfeiture Unit and Thomas E. Zeno of the Fraud and Public Corruption Section.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a criminal violation. All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.