A Stamford dentist was recently sentenced to one year in prison for defrauding insurance companies.

As the office manager for Advanced Dentistry, Elena Ilizarov fraudulently billed 37 private dental insurance companies for services allegedly performed by an identity theft victim for patients of the practice. The identity theft victim was a dentist who had been affiliated with Advanced Dentistry for a short period of time and retired fully from dentistry in 2011. In total, Ilizarov earned more than $1.2 million by billing in the name of the retired dentist.

Approximately $581,729 was paid by private insurance companies to Advanced Dentistry for services allegedly provided by the retired dentist. As a result, the insurance companies issued 1099 forms to the Internal Revenue Service pertaining to the retired dentist. Ilizarov renewed the retired dentist’s Connecticut dental license and controlled substance registrations, paying for the renewals with her personal credit card. She also applied for, and received, liability insurance in the name of the retired dentist for several years.

She was arrested on a federal criminal complaint on June 21, 2016.  She pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud on March 13, 2017.