San Diego dentist, five employees face criminal charges for alleged Medi-Cal fraud

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A dentist in San Diego along with five of his employees have been charged for allegedly defrauding the state Medi-Cal program of nearly $900,000, the office of California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Thursday in a news release.

Husam Aldairi, Rawaa Attar, Lilyan Krikorian, Inci Narin, Laith Alani and Fadi Shammas were faced with felony charges of conspiracy to commit a crime and Medi-Cal fraud, the release stated.

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Aldairi's clinics contracted with Borrego Community Health Foundation, a federally qualified health center which serves Medi-Cal patients that are from underserved populations or communities. Aldairi was entitled to get reimbursed for each patient visit rather than specific services, the release stated.

However, he allegedly fraudulently billed patients for services that were either not rendered or not rendered over multiple days as they were claimed, according to the attorney general's office.

Between Aug. 29, 2016 and Oct. 20, 2020, Aldairi and his five employees allegedly fraudulently billed more than $847,000 from patients, the release said.