Houston dental clinic operator who orchestrated $6 million fraud scheme sentenced to prison

A former Houston dental clinic operator has been convicted of masterminding a multimillion-dollar Medicaid fraud and kickback scheme.

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Rene Gaviola, 68, was ordered to serve 120 months in federal prison and pay more than $5 million in Medicaid restitution and more than $3 million in judgment, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas. staff.

Court records allege Gaviola was the operator of the Floss Family Dental Care clinic, where he submitted false Medicaid claims for pediatric dental services. These included several cavity fillings, which Floss did not supply and, if they did, were carried out by unauthorized persons. One of those people included Gaviola’s son, who “was not a licensed dentist” and often used Floss without licensed dentists present.

In late April, Gaviola’s accomplice and another clinic manager, Mia Diaz, 48, were sentenced to 21 months in prison.

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Bribes were also given to merchants and caregivers of Medicaid-insured children to bring them to Floss for dental services.

Gaviola eventually admitted to laundering money from the clinic’s bank account into his personal account, with several transactions exceeding $100,000. This continued from 2019 to 2021, with the clinic billing Medicaid for nearly $6.9 million in claims, but Medicaid paid more than $4.9 million on those claims.

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The 68-year-old had previously been released on bail but was remanded in custody after the sentencing. U.S. District Chief Judge Crane also noted that Gaviola had made no attempt to repay the money, even though he had $2 million in assets stashed in the Philippines.