Vanessa Roberts Avery, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut
Helen Zervas, a 57-year-old optometrist from Farmington, has pleaded guilty to charges of health care fraud and public corruption. The announcement was made by Marc H. Silverman, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, Anish Shukla, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the FBI, and Harry T. Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation in New England.
Zervas waived her right to be indicted and entered her plea before U.S. District Judge Sarah F. Russell in Bridgeport. According to court documents and statements made during the proceedings, Zervas owned Family Eye Care in Bristol and participated as a provider in Medicaid and Medicare programs.
Between October 2015 and January 2020, Zervas submitted false claims to these programs, falsely representing that she had provided or deemed necessary certain treatments. Specifically, between September 2016 and January 2020, she filed over 300 false claims with Medicaid and more than 30 with Medicare for procedures involving an amniotic membrane on the eye surface when such treatment was not performed or required.
In addition to health care fraud, Zervas engaged in a conspiracy during a state audit of her Medicaid billings in 2020. She collaborated with a senior official from the State’s Office of Policy and Management and a Connecticut State Representative to obstruct the audit process. In return for payments from Family Eye Care, these officials agreed to influence other state employees regarding the audit.
Zervas has pleaded guilty to one count each of health care fraud—which carries up to ten years imprisonment—and conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right—carrying up to twenty years imprisonment.
She is currently released pending sentencing which has yet to be scheduled. The investigation is being led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation alongside the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation Division. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan N. Francis and David E. Novick are prosecuting this case.