A Stamford-based podiatrist faces hefty fines and prison time after she pleaded guilty this week to submitting fraudulent Medicare claims.
Amira Mantoura pleaded guilty Monday in Hartford federal court to one count of making a false statement to Medicare after she billed the government program for foot surgeries when she merely clipped patients’ toenails, according to Deirdre M. Daly, U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut.
Mantoura, 53, lives in Greenwich and has a practice at 95 Morgan St., Stamford. In her guilty plea, she admitted that she submitted false claims to not only Medicare, but Medicaid and private insurance companies as well, Daly said.
Reached by phone at her practice Tuesday, Mantoura declined to comment.
According to court documents, between January 2009 and August 2013, Mantoura “knowingly submitted materially false claims” seeking payment for nail avulsions, which are surgical treatments for ingrown toenails.
In most of the cases, Mantoura did not perform nail avulsions but rather provided “routine foot care including clipping the patients’ toenails,” court documents show.
The podiatrist was paid about $195,000 – as a result of the false claims she submitted.
The case was investigated by the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General.
Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 28. Mantoura faces up to five years in prison, a maximum fine of more than $380,000 and an order of restitution.
In a related civil settlement, she had already paid $288,534 to the government in connection with the false claims to Medicare and Medicaid, according to Daly.
As of Oct. 1, Mantoura is excluded from the Medicare program and can no longer submit federal health care claims, Daly said.
