Fake, Unlicensed Psychologist "Rundown"
Eldon
From the Philadelphia Inquirer (December 2, 2007)
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_stories/20071202_ARTof_theCON.html
Art of the Con
Like body parts on a cubist canvas, the self-told tale of Luc Sonnet,
"international fine artist," never quite fit together.
He claimed a childhood in the vineyards of Bordeaux, an internship at
age 17 with Picasso, and a wealthy, discerning clientele willing to
shell out as much as $250,000 for his oil paintings.....
Sonnet is indeed accomplished. Not as an imported fine artist, but as
the all-American con artist Richard Carl Grossman.
From 1992 to 1995, Grossman, now 57, pulled off one of the grander
scams in recent local history.
Posing as a visionary psychologist, he defrauded a dozen financial
institutions that had lent him nearly $18 million for a chain of dial-
in, all-hours, $1-per-minute counseling clinics that never opened.
Much of that cash went into construction of an enormous Main Line
mansion, a 27,000-square-foot structure so over-the-top that its roof
had to be cut flat halfway up to meet Tredyffrin Township's height
restrictions.
Grossman pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering, and spent 32
months in prison. He emerged late in 2001 and, while still under
federal probation, began crafting his next persona.
As Luc Sonnet (pronounced so-NAY), he boasted of hanging out with Andy
Warhol in 1980s New York. Of dating supermodel Kate Moss. Of having
Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards' number programmed in his cell
phone.
------
From the current St. Louis, MO Craigslist:
Unlicensed Psychologist $20 an hour
Reply to: serv-45...@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-10-25, 11:04PM EDT
I went three years into a Psychology major at Bellarmine before
running out of money. Might as well help people out with what I
learned so I'm offering unlicensed Psychological help for $20 an hour.
If interested in setting up an appointment, email me or call
502-224-5716. Yes this is for real.
--------
And from Massachusetts (December 2006)
http://iqte.st/blog/?cat=10
Tama Judd, 58, of Mashpee, pleaded guilty today before Judge Carol
Ball in Suffolk Superior Court to one count each of practicing
psychology without a license and practicing mental health counseling
without a license, and to five counts each of filing false health care
claims and larceny over $250. Judd was sentenced to two years of
supervised probation, is required to perform 200 hours of community
service, and was ordered to pay health insurers full restitution of
$339,817.66.
Eldon
> Here are three interesting items found on the Internet:
>
>
> Art of the Con
This article (the first item) is long, BTW, and well worth reading.
Fascinating. This guy should probably be Hari's next role model.
The seeds of deception
Richard Grossman's unbridled penchant for grand exaggeration is
nothing new.
He has long suffered from mental afflictions that send him careening
between jags of bombastic ambition and depression, according to court-
ordered psychological reports. These disorders, along with a keen
intellect, are among the apparent seeds of his Sonnet-sized
deceptions.
While "his superior intellectual faculties" have allowed him to
function, a psychologist wrote in 1999, "his record suggests
difficulties approaching psychotic or schizophrenic-like proportions."
Growing up in Massapequa, Long Island, Grossman considered himself the
"odd one" in his middle-class family of four, according to the
reports. He roamed nomadically among the homes of friends; deeming
public high school to be beneath him, he skipped much of his senior
year.
After studying philosophy and computers at the State University of New
York at Binghamton, he married and held a curious series of jobs -
vacuum cleaner telemarketer, business consultant, real estate agent,
unlicensed psychotherapist - before suffering a "breakdown" in the
early 1980s, the reports say.
His adventures, and frustrations, as a patient inspired his
reincarnation on the Main Line as the phony "Dr. Richard C. Grossman,
Ph.D," founder and promoter of telepsychology clinics. Using falsified
financial statements showing multi-millions in income, he gulled
commercial lenders - General Electric Capital Corp. and AT&T
Commercial Finance Corp., to name just two - into backing his couch-by-
phone proposal.
"What I did was wrong, what I did was unlawful, what I did was
misleading, what I did could also be called fraud . . . ," he told a
gathering of outraged financiers in a transcribed interrogation in
1995. "But then again, I'm eccentric, I'm an artist, my purpose was
very pure."
The courts were forgiving.
Because of his mental illness, and because he had cooperated with
investigators, prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Edmund V. Ludwig
to impose a sentence half as long as federal guidelines prescribed. In
November 2001, he was released from the Federal Correctional
Institution at Fort Dix, to remain under probation supervision for
three years.
He made a beeline back to his criminal stamping ground. Within months,
signs of another identity morph began to appear.
"Richard Grossman," he would later tell The Inquirer, "is a boring
American name."
In August 2002, he registered two fictitious business names with the
state. "Ariel Sonnet," the records say, would be a "name used in
signing, promoting and selling art work"; "Ariel Sonnet Promoting"
would be for "promotions and fund raising."
The Inquirer found no evidence that Grossman did business as "Ariel
Sonnet." Even so, he was required to tell his probation officer that
he had created an alias, according to Daniel W. Blahusch, chief
federal probation officer for the eastern district of Pennsylvania.
Grossman did not.
However, the court certainly was informed - by Easttown Township
police - when in May 2004 Grossman got into a road-rage hit-and-run in
Chester County.
While driving with a girlfriend in her aging Volvo, he cut off a brand-
new R-type Jaguar on Route 252. The other driver laid on his horn at a
stop light. Grossman threw the car into reverse, struck the Jag, and
took off.
When police traced the Volvo, its 39-year-old owner, Charlene Welde,
tried to take the fall for her companion by claiming she had been at
the wheel. But Grossman fessed up under pressure from his probation
officer. Charged with disorderly conduct, leaving the scene of an
accident, and reckless driving, he pleaded guilty to disorderly
conduct only and was fined. The other charges were dropped.
Although the arrest "was immediately reported to Judge Ludwig,"
Grossman was not remanded to prison, Blahusch wrote in an e-mail to
The Inquirer. His supervision file is not a public record, Blahusch
added, so it couldn't be discussed in further detail.
The Rev. Matthew Welde is hardly as tight-lipped. His daughter
Charlene, an aspiring artist with her own mental-health issues, moved
with Grossman into a backwoods rental home in Birchrunville, Chester
County, in March 2004.
Though not yet calling himself Luc Sonnet, he "convinced her that he
was a famous artist," said Welde, a Presbyterian evangelist. Grossman
showed the minister his abstract prints and "told me that some of his
pieces had been in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York."
It wasn't long, though, before "she got on to him, and then he was
extraordinarily hostile," Welde said, recalling a middle-of-the-night
phone call from his daughter.
"[She] told me that Grossman was beating her, and was going to kill
her," said Welde, who urged her in vain to call 911.
The next day, she told her father she had lied. Unconvinced, he
confronted Grossman and threatened to summon police.
"He said, 'Oh, don't do that!' " the minister recounted. " 'I'm on
probation. . . . I'll go back to jail.' "
Instead, it was Charlene who left. In June 2004, telling not even her
family, she emptied her bank account and flew to France, her father
said. From there, she settled in Israel, where she is today.
> Reply to: serv-459909...@craigslist.org
> Date: 2007-10-25, 11:04PM EDT
>
> I went three years into a Psychology major at Bellarmine before
> running out of money. Might as well help people out with what I
> learned so I'm offering unlicensed Psychological help for $20 an hour.
> If interested in setting up an appointment, email me or call
> 502-224-5716. Yes this is for real.
> --------
>
> And from Massachusetts (December 2006)http://iqte.st/blog/?cat=10
HAPPYsamuri
others
i now find this extra interesting
incombunation with the no right and wrong discussion on afl
or for avatarites- the no ethics cos its a blame game - stand
is eldon taking a bite out of the sucess of con artists here?
where is the LINE drawn dear people
is slavery ok in a "don't play the blame game" world?
cos we shouldn't take a bite out of the slave traders success ?
osho got free rolls royces
as he said - if these people wana give them to him - so what is what's
so...
same with the nigerian scam artists - "it's ok to prey on the
gullible"
the gnostics say this is a time of revealing
or unvieling
ie - secrets WILL be uncovered
will you align with this energy - or fight it....
Eldon
Here's "Luc Sonnet's" promotional video:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/multimedia/11322166.html
More than a decade ago, Richard Carl Grossman pulled off one of the
bigger scams in recent local history. Posing as a psychologist, he
defrauded a dozen financial institutions that had loaned him nearly
$18 million for a chain of dial-in, all-hours, $1-per-minute
counseling clinics that never opened. He spent 32 months in prison.
Once out, and calling himself Luc Sonnet, he hired a group of graduate
film students to create a video in which he falsely depicts himself as
an "international fine artist" whose works are in some of the world's
most prestigious private collections. In this video, he discusses the
process of making "digital fine art" on a computer and how it is just
as real as art with a brush and paint. He told people that he hoped to
use the video to persuade PBS to do a documentary about him.
-------
Now do you think that compares with Harry's video efforts?
http://www.avatarepc.com/video/
"Posing as a psychologist...."
Eldon
>
>
> Art of the Con
And... here's an article bout the fake psychologist's fantasy
castle! ;-) (Open link for a couple of pix amazing mansion,)
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20071202_A_fantasy_castle_he_called_Lionshead.html
Set on 2.4 acres along Tree Line Drive, the 29-room, 27,000-square-
foot manor house was as grandiose as Grossman's fabrications: nine
bedrooms, 19 baths, five kitchens, servants' quarters, pool house,
heated garage for six cars, and more, way more.
Designed by Paoli architect David G. Rowland, the house was a melange
of antebellum plantation (columns, full second-floor porch),
Pennsylvania farmhouse (enormous stone chimneys), and Colonial (huge
center hall).
Before Grossman could finish, his 1996 bankruptcy and the FBI halted
the project.
-----
A background story from 1997:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F04E1D9143EF932A1575BC0A961958260
Money Scheme Alleged
Published: August 21, 1997
A Long Island man has been accused of bilking more than a dozen
lending institutions out of $17.8 million to finance a phony therapy
business in Pennsylvania, officials said.
The United States Attorney's Office charged Richard C. Grossman of
Massapequa, N.Y., on Tuesday with 34 counts of wire, mail and bank
fraud and money laundering in what they characterized as a
multimillion-dollar scheme that lasted from 1992 to 1995.
Mr. Grossman, 46, who falsely claimed to be a psychologist operating
round-the-clock telephone and computer counseling therapy centers,
persuaded lenders to give him millions of dollars for construction
loans, a mortgage, computers and equipment, according to the charges.
But the centers and financial statements were fake, as were his
degrees from such schools as Cornell, M.I.T. and Columbia, prosecutors
said. Mr. Grossman, a graduate of the State University of New York at
Binghamton, has moved back to Massapequa.
Mr. Grossman's lawyer in New York, Paul Goldberger, did not return
calls seeking comment yesterday. Mr. Grossman is free on bail in
Massapequa, the prosecutor said.
HAPPYsamuri
is it ok to BELIEVE scamming people is GOOD/ok
the gnostics would say the scam artist deserves our compassion [as do
his victims - as does ourr own sense of righteous indignation at the
scammers]
but question - how do we "uplift" the scam energy to a more ethical
expression
we need to consider the relationship between the scammer and the
victim
Eldon
> so it begs the question
>
> is it ok to BELIEVE scamming people is GOOD/ok
>
> the gnostics would say the scam artist deserves our compassion [as do
> his victims - as does ourr own sense of righteous indignation at the
> scammers]
>
> but question - how do we "uplift" the scam energy to a more ethical
> expression
One thing we might do is find some humor in the dynamics involved.
Even though I do have a sense of righteous indignation about the harm
scammers cause, I gotta say that Harry, Wayne and Cyndy provide a
great amount of comic relief with their pompous huffing and puffing.
In Wayne's case, however, I suspect he may move on to one more cult
scam in this lifetime, while still praising L. Ron Hubbard and Harry
in retrospect. Here are a couple of possibilities:
http://www.rickross.com/reference/general/general900.html (close by in
San Diego County.)
http://www.rickross.com/reference/general/general798.html
Guru Or Accused Scam Artist?
10 News, San Diego/February 22, 2007
San Diego -- His name is Tilak and his followers said to call him a
guru, mystic or teacher is to limit what he is.
Tilak has been gaining a following in north San Diego County,
operating out of a home in Encinitas.
To his devoted followers, Tilak is a superior being.
To his detractors, he's a charlatan that preys on the vulnerable.
"I think if it was 150 years ago, this would be the guy who would come
to your town and try to sell you snake oil as a miracle cure," said
attorney Jim Bush.
What Tilak offers is enlightenment through his "gift of light" --
energy of light, often blue, he said in his literature that he could
personally transmit.
"You lie down on a bed, face up, close your eyes, and he does his
treatment," said Maureen Rafael.
Rafael, a book editor, was a customer for one treatment and said she
saw a blue light.
Eileen Tipton said she also saw a blue light when she went to Tilak
last year.
"There were these bedrooms set up for him to have, touch and blow on
you, where you would see the lights," said Tipton.
Tipton paid for three private sessions and then charged $3,300 to her
credit card for a weekend retreat in Las Vegas.
"He will invite you; you have to be personally invited," said Tipton.
On that retreat, Tipton said she had doubts, especially when Tilak
disappeared after leading his followers to the Las Vegas Strip.
"I heard later he was at the gambling tables with my friend," Tipton
told 10News.
AND FROM TOKYO, another possible role model:
http://www.rickross.com/reference/general/general798.html
'Polygamist' used psychological tricks
Yomiuri Shimbun/January 29, 2006
Books on hypnosis were found Thursday at the home of Hirohito Shibuya,
who was arrested Thursday on suspicion of threatening a 20-year-old
woman in an attempt to get her to live with him, the police said.
Following his arrest, Shibuya, 57, a self-professed fortune-teller,
was found to be living with 11 women in Higashi-Yamato, Tokyo.
Psychologists said the women in the house may have been subjected to
mind-control techniques.
The police also suspect Shibuya of threatening other women in an
attempt to make them join his commune.
Though Shibuya said he lived with 10 women and a baby girl, police now
say he lived with 11 women and a baby girl.
After Shibuya's arrest was reported, several women who claimed to have
been threatened by him contacted the Metropolitan Police Department.