Civil settlement
U.S. ex rel. Relator LLC v. West Coast Dental Services Inc., et al.
U.S. ex rel. Relator LLC v. West Coast Dental Services Inc., et al. — no court filings from this case are in the archive yet; the summary is sourced to 1 document listed under Documents.
Case facts
| Record type | Civil settlement |
|---|---|
| Court | U.S. District Court for the Central District of California |
| Docket number | No. CV 22-3812-MCS (MARx) (no document in the archive is numbered on it) — main docket |
Case summary
West Coast Dental Services Inc. (now West Coast Dental Administrative Services LLC), which operates a network of dental offices in Southern California, and its founders and former owners, Drs. Soleyman Cohen-Sedgh, Farid Pakravan and Farhad Manavi, have paid $6.3 million to resolve allegations that they knowingly violated the False Claims Act in connection with seven improper loans received by West Coast Dental and affiliated dental offices. The claims are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability. According to the settlement announcement, second-draw PPP loans, offered in 2021, were limited to businesses with 300 employees or less. Whether an applicant qualified depended in part on the number of employees of both the borrower and its corporate affiliates. The government alleged that West Coast Dental and six affiliated practices obtained second-draw loans without disclosing the offices' common ownership in their separate applications. It alleged that the seven loans and their forgiveness rested on false certifications of eligibility, because the dental practices collectively employed more than 300 individuals.1
A separate loan went to City Real Estate Holdings Inc., a real estate investment company Dr. Manavi also owned. The government alleged that City Real Estate was ineligible for the loan under PPP rules because it is a passive business operated for investment purposes. City Real Estate sought and received forgiveness of the full loan.1
City Real Estate paid an additional $35,149.82 to resolve its potential False Claims Act liability on that loan.1
The settlement includes the resolution of qui tam claims brought by Relator LLC, a limited liability corporation formed by California attorneys Anoush Hakimi and Peter Shahriari, in U.S. ex rel. Relator LLC v. West Coast Dental Services Inc., et al., CV 22-3812-MCS (MARx) (C.D. Cal.). Relator LLC will receive approximately $507,000 as its share of the total settlement.1
Notes
- U.S. Department of Justice, "Southern California Dental Offices and Former Owners Pay $6.3M to Resolve False Claims Act Allegations Relating to Improper Paycheck Protection Program Loans" (original), August 8, 2024. ↩1 ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
Summary written from the documents on this page; every sentence is sourced.
Documents
1 document about this case is in the archive.
- Southern California Dental Offices and Former Owners Pay $6.3M to Resolve False Claims Act Allegations Relating to Improper Paycheck Protection Program LoansPress release · U.S. Department of Justice