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Press Release

Stamford Podiatrist Who Submitted False Claims is Sentenced

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Connecticut

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that AMIRA MANTOURA, 53, of Greenwich, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to three years of probation, and a fine that will result in MANTOURA paying three times the amount of money she stole by submitting false claims to Medicare and other health insurance plans.  MANTOURA also will be required to perform 200 hours of community service as part of her sentence.

On October 5, 2015, MANTOURA pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement to the Medicare program.

According to court documents and statements made in court, MANTOURA, a Doctor of Podiatric Medicine, operates a podiatry practice at 95 Morgan Street in Stamford.  As a podiatrist, she was fully aware and understood the procedure to perform a “nail avulsion” and she understood that a nail avulsion was a surgical procedure to treat an ingrown toenail.  Between January 2009 and August 2013, MANTOURA knowingly submitted materially false claims to the Medicare program and to private insurance companies to obtain payment for a nail avulsion when she knew that she had not performed a nail avulsion.  Rather than perform a nail avulsion, in most of these instances MANTOURA had merely provided her patients with routine foot care including clipping the patients’ toenails.

As a result of submitting false claims to the Medicare and Medicaid programs and private insurance companies, MANTOURA was paid approximately $206,000.

As part of her sentence, MANTOURA was required to pay approximately $64,000 in restitution to private health insurance plans.  In a related civil settlement, MANTOURA paid $288,538.24 to the government in connection with her submission of false claims to the Medicare and Medicaid program, which was twice the amount of false claims MANTOURA submitted to those programs.  As part of her sentence, MANTOURA was ordered to pay an additional $266,000 fine, which will result in MANTOURA paying a total of $618,000, or three times the amount she gained from her fraud.

MANTOURA is ordered to pay the restitution within seven days and to pay her fine within 90 days.

On October 1, 2015, MANTOURA was excluded from the Medicare program and will no longer be permitted to submit federal health care claims.

This matter was investigated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys David J. Sheldon and Anne F. Thidemann.

U.S. Attorney Daly encourages individuals who suspect health care fraud to report it by calling the Health Care Fraud Task Force at (203) 777-6311 or. 1-800-HHS-TIPS.

Updated August 13, 2021

Topics
False Claims Act
Health Care Fraud