U.S. rehab ‘mogul’ convicted of assaulting several women
Christopher Bathum managed to build an empire in California’s lucrative addiction treatment industry despite the fact that he held no licence in drug counselling and no college degree.
The self-described “Rehab Mogul” founded what was once known as Community Recovery Los Angeles, a chain of about 20 facilities in Southern California and Colorado for patients battling alcoholism and drug addiction. At some of Bathum’s luxurious sober-living houses, patients had access to private chefs, a pool, yoga, excursions and a wide array of therapy options.
Bathum presented himself as a trusted confidant and mentor to his patients — particularly to young, broken women wrestling with addiction. He made numerous, vulnerable young women feel special, showering them with “internships” and access to company cars and iPhones, prosecutors said in court, according to the Orange County Register.
But he also used their weaknesses — the addictions he was supposed to help them overcome — to lure the women with drugs, get them high, and then sexually assault them.
On Monday, Bathum was convicted of sexually assaulting seven women, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. The 56-year-old disgraced mogul was found guilty of 31 counts, including rape, sexual penetration by foreign object, forcible oral copulation and sexual exploitation.
Prosecutors said Bathum preyed upon the patients who were in their 20s and early 30s between 2014 and 2016. Several of the assaults took place at his treatment facilities, prosecutors said.
“They were easy targets,” Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller said in his closing arguments, according to the Orange County Register. “They were perfect victims.”
Bathum now faces up to 65 years in state prison when he is sentenced in April. He was acquitted Monday of several counts of sexual exploitation and one count of offering a controlled substance, methamphetamine. The jury was hung on one count of rape by use of drugs and two counts of sexual penetration by a foreign object.
In recent years, Bathum has repeatedly denied all allegations of sexual misconduct to local and national news outlets. His attorney, Carlo A. Spiga, told the jury that the evidence did not show that “any of these acts were forcible,” according to the Orange County Register. He credited Bathum with helping scores of people at his treatment centres.
Bathum’s case is part of a wider pattern of sexual misconduct at rehab centres, according to state statistics cited by the Southern California News Group. The number one complaint from clients involving the rehab industry is sexual misconduct, according to a 2013 investigation by the California Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes. And since 2015, state regulators have investigated and closed 78 complaints of alleged sexual misconduct at rehab centres, according to the Department of Health Care Services, the Southern California News Group reported.
Bathum now faces additional charges in a separate case accusing him of running a $175 million fraudulent health care billing scheme to lure addicts to his treatment centres, according to prosecutors. Bathum and his former chief financial officer, Kirsten Wallace, were each charged in November 2016 with 31 counts of money laundering, eight counts of grand theft, six counts of identity theft and five counts of insurance fraud. Both have pleaded not guilty.
State Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones described the scheme as “one of the largest health insurance fraud cases in California.”
“Bathum and Wallace’s alleged conspiracy victimized hundreds of people addicted to drugs and alcohol by keeping them in a never-ending cycle of treatment, addiction, and fraud-all the while lining their pockets with millions of dollars from allegedly fraudulent insurance claims,” said Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones.
Bathum and Wallace allegedly stole patient identity information to obtain health insurance policies in their names without them knowing, according to a California Department of Insurance investigation. Bathum continued to bill insurance companies even after the patients completed their treatment.
About $44 million was paid out by five insurance companies, prosecutors said.
Through these alleged treatment marketing schemes, Bathum managed to earn a fortune. In 2015, the company earned nearly $30 million in annual revenue with a profit of 30 per cent, Bathum told ABC for a 20/20 investigation last year. A 90-day stay at one of his residential treatment centres typically cost about $40,000.
“I’m not complaining,” Bathum told ABCs 20/20. At the time, he was living with his wife and four children in $3 million home in Santa Monica.
Bathum first surfaced in headlines in a December 2015 cover story in LA Weekly, amid investigations by major California insurance firms as well as the FBI, Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles County District Attorney and California Department of Health Care Services. The LA Weekly story described him as an “enigmatic, wild-haired” mogul who built the prosperous Community Recovery Los Angeles chain in only three years. Though he stepped down as CEO earlier in 2015, he remained “firmly in charge,” according to LA Weekly.
Bathum, LA Weekly reported, previously ran a pool cleaning business, and is certified to practice hypnotherapy. In 2002, he pleaded guilty to four federal felony counts of mail and wire fraud for selling computers and exercise equipment on eBay that he never delivered. He was sentenced to six months of house arrest and ordered to pay $29,733.