Bachynsky
WoodTick
Bachynsky case has roots in cancer drug
Wednesday, May 12, 2004 9:17 AM CDT
By LISA BOSE McDERMOTT
Texarkana Gazette
The same homemade drug that Dr. Nicholas Bachynsky is accused of using
on local patients is what has landed him in trouble with the federal
government in Miami.
DNP is the drug he allegedly used on cancer and AIDS patients at New
Boston General Hospital along with Dr. James Naples, his nurse, Linda
Velvin, and the late Dr. Joseph Greenspan.
Bachynsky is charged with 40 federal felony counts, including
conspiracy, securities fraud, mail and wire fraud, related to a
company called Helvetica from January 2001 to October 2002, according
to the indictment filed in the Southern District Court of Florida in
Miami.
"Bachynsky represented himself as Helvetica's medical director and was
an undisclosed principal of Helvetica. Among other things, Nicholas
Bachynsky directly and indirectly solicited investors to purchase
Helvetica's securities and 'treated' Helvetica patients," according to
the federal indictment filed on April 22.
Bachynsky was arrested on May 5.
In his May 6 ruling, U.S. Magistrate Judge William C. Turnoff ordered
Bachynsky held without bail citing the following:
Defendant is charged in connection with a mail fraud indictment
involving a non-approved, and possibly life-threatening, cancer cure.
Defendant has a prior related criminal conviction.
Defendant has a history of extensive foreign travel.
Upon conviction, defendant faces a substantial period of
incarceration.
Defendant faces related charges in Italy.
Defendant has insufficient ties to the community.
According to the indictment, Bachynsky and three others sold stock in
Helvetica.
By October 2002, they had raised more than $3.5 million from at least
50 investors across the country. None were from East Texas.
"During investor solicitations, the defendants represented, or caused
others to represent, to investors that Helvetica was raising investor
monies to operate a cancer treatment clinic in Switzerland, utilizing
a novel drug to treat individuals inflicted with various types of
cancer ... the defendants, directly and indirectly, led investors to
believe that they had the opportunity to invest "on the ground floor"
of Helvetica."
Investors bought the stock at $1 per share with promises that
investors would make returns of 400-600 percent when the stock rose to
$5 and $6 once the company's stock offering "went public."
The company's business plan focused on Intracellular Hyperthermia
(IHT) for the treatment of cancer. They also allegedly touted the drug
as a treatment for AIDS.
When the Texas Board of Medical Examiners moved to cancel Bachynsky's
medical license on Jan. 31, 1987, its order included, "2-4
Dinitrophenol (DNP) is a chemical compound with no proven therapeutic
value and usually has a number of harmful and dangerous side effects
upon persons who take it."
Federal prosecutors in Miami believe that Bachynsky and his alleged
conspirators used the millions raised to buy cars and homes and pay
credit card bills that had purchases of airfare, lodging, restaurants,
clothes and retail store purchases.
In 1989 Bachynsky was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison from the
Southern District of Texas in Houston as part of a smoking
cessation/diet clinic scam using the drug DNP that netted him as much
as $37 million, according to court records.
"Bachynsky and his associates also billed the insurance carriers for
tests that were never performed. Because most of the medical insurance
did not cover weight loss or smoking cessation programs, false
diagnoses were submitted to qualify for insurance payments," according
to court records.
According to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a ruling on
Sept. 11, 1991, "To say that Bachynsky has a penchant for fraud is a
prize-winning understatement."
Bachynsky, recalled the federal appeals court, not only had his diet
clinics, but also would have his home or various businesses robbed
only to file inflated claims from his insurance company.
"And whenever one of Bachynsky's corporations-he controlled
several-neared the end of the fiscal year, he would shunt money from
that corporation to one of his others in order to shelter, illegally,
earnings from taxation," according to the 5th Circuit.
PrincessKiara70
Unreal. He's nothing more than a criminal. A SCAM artist...and he's finally
going to get what he deserves.