Potomac dentist practiced without license, stole millions from Medicaid

Seyed Tofigh pleads guilty; most patients were children, Maryland AG says

February 9, 2024 9:36 p.m.

A former dentist from Potomac who primarily treated children pleaded guilty Tuesday to stealing $8.5 million from Medicaid and practicing without a license, the Maryland Attorney General’s Office said in a news release Friday.

Seyed Hamid Tofigh, 57, was convicted in Circuit Court for Prince George’s County and will face 78 days in jail and a restitution requirement of $8.5 million, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

Tofigh became a licensed dentist in Maryland in 1994 and owned multiple dental practices with his two brothers, the Attorney General’s Office said. In 2015, all three brothers separated their ownership of the practices, and Tofigh retained ownership of Greenbelt Family Dentistry in Prince George’s County and Rockville Family Dentistry at 5806 Hubbard Drive, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

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In 2014, the Maryland Board of Dental Examiners suspended Tofigh’s license to practice dentistry after receiving numerous complaints from his patients, the Attorney General’s Office said. The board found that “there was substantial likelihood that he posed a risk of harm to public health, safety and welfare,” according to a consent order filed in 2015.

Then, in 2015, after conducting further investigation, the board revoked his license because he kept “consistently incompetent and egregiously deficient dental records, provided incompetent and substandard treatment to patients, fraudulently billed for services never provided, and engaged in unprofessional and dishonorable conduct,” according to the Attorney General’s Office.

From 2015 to January 2023, even though he no longer had a license, Tofigh continued to own his Greenbelt and Rockville practices and treat patients, specifically Maryland Medicaid recipients, the Attorney General’s Office said.

In order to file his treatments under Medicaid without a license, he “stole the identities of others, forged signatures on Medicaid applications, used aliases to avoid detection, directed his employees to use aliases to avoid accountability, and failed to cooperate with insurance audits,” according to the Attorney General’s Office.

From 2015 to 2022, Tofigh “submitted claims for payment to Maryland Medicaid using the name, Medicaid provider number, and credentials” of his two brothers, his nephew and a former colleague, who are all licensed dentists in the state, the Attorney General’s Office stated.

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Additionally, he billed for services he did not provide, delivered “substandard” care, used equipment that was not sanitized, performed and billed for “unnecessary services,” including unnecessary root canals, fillings and tooth extractions, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

He also “bullied and intimidated” any patients who questioned him and provided little to no documentation of the treatments he said he performed, the Attorney General’s Office said.

“This case revealed a complex healthcare fraud scheme that not only drained taxpayer dollars away from our State’s Medicaid program but also placed Dr. Tofigh’s young patients in real danger,” Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown said in the release. “By stopping Dr. Tofigh, my office continues in its commitment to protecting patients and ensuring the integrity of State programs remains intact.”

The criminal indictment of Tofigh was filed on Sept. 26, 2023, the arrest warrant was issued a few days later and the warrant was served on Nov. 29, 2023, according to digital court records.

Tofigh pleaded guilty this week in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County to one count of defrauding a state health plan, Medicaid, and one count of practicing dentistry without a license, the Attorney General’s Office said.

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His attorneys, Barry Helfand and Raquel Smith did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.

Judge Carol Ann Corderre sentenced him to 78 days in jail, 18 months of home detention, and five years of probation (to run concurrently), and she ordered him to pay $8.5 million in restitution within the year, the Attorney General’s Office said. At the time he was sentenced, Tofigh had paid $4.5 million toward this total, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

Also, he is no longer allowed to provide any health care services that are funded by state or federal governments and must permanently surrender his Maryland dental license, the Attorney General’s Office stated.

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