0:00

This episode contains disturbing content,

0:02

including mention of sexual assault,

0:05

illicit drug use, and explicit

0:07

language. Please take care while

0:09

listening. In

0:12

June of 2016, a white Tesla

0:14

was parked along the side of

0:16

Mulholland Highway, a two-lane

0:18

road that winds through the hills

0:20

of Calabasas. Inside the

0:22

Tesla sat Chris Batham and Erika

0:25

Littel. Erika was 27

0:27

years old, a former client of

0:29

CRLA. Chris

0:31

pulled out a meth pipe and put a flame

0:33

underneath it until it started smoking. Suddenly,

0:36

a sheriff's deputy pulled up behind the

0:38

Tesla. Chris dropped the pipe to the

0:40

floorboard. Danny,

0:42

a former CRLA client who we spoke with

0:45

earlier in the season, was friends

0:47

with Erika. He told me about this

0:49

incident. Erika called me and she told me when

0:51

that happened, and she goes, hey, he tried to tell me to

0:53

take all the drugs and say they were mine, and I said

0:55

no. And then he tried to tell me that if I didn't

0:57

take them, then this would be bad. Like, I had to take

0:59

them, and if I didn't, this would be bad for me. And

1:01

I still said no. And then when the cops walked up to

1:03

the car and asked him what was going on, he said, oh,

1:06

this is a girl that was in my treatment center. She just

1:08

relapsed. I'm taking her back to detox, and

1:10

these are her drugs, you know? And she

1:12

was like, nope, they're not. Erika

1:15

later testified that Chris claimed all

1:17

the drugs in the car belonged

1:19

to Erika, which wasn't true. He

1:22

also said she was suicidal and he was just

1:24

trying to help her. But

1:26

Chris was clearly high. He'd been snorting

1:28

meth off his finger while he was

1:30

driving. The deputy then talked to

1:32

Erika to get her side of the story. She

1:36

said she was not suicidal, but that

1:38

she and Chris had gone there with

1:40

the intent to get high together. She

1:43

said yes, Chris did own a

1:45

treatment facility, but she was no longer a

1:47

client there, and he wasn't trying to help

1:49

her. The deputy replied,

1:52

wait, so he's the owner of a treatment center

1:54

and he's getting high with you? And

1:57

Erika said yes. They were both

2:00

arrested. And he got arrested

2:02

that night and she got arrested, processed and released. Maybe

2:04

he did too, but that was the first night that

2:06

like, well, maybe it's true that he's actually getting high.

2:09

Erica was released for cooperating with

2:11

law enforcement. Early

2:13

the next morning, Chris was released

2:15

after posting the $30,000 bail. But

2:18

the clock was ticking for Chris Bassam.

2:21

What he didn't know is that there was

2:23

an investigation underway that touched

2:25

multiple government agencies, including

2:28

the FBI, the California Department of

2:30

Insurance, the LA County Sheriff's Department,

2:33

and the LA District Attorney's Office.

2:36

In five months, he would be

2:38

arrested again, but this time he

2:40

wouldn't be released. His bail would be set at

2:42

$9.6 million. Even

2:46

as Chris Bassam's world was closing in,

2:48

even after his arrest, there were

2:51

those who remained devoted to Chris

2:53

Bassam. There were people in the industry

2:56

who were still in the industry who came to

2:58

his side and said, no, he's a good

3:00

guy. These women are just making it up,

3:02

you know, stuff like that. It was

3:05

only a matter of time before

3:07

Chris Bassam and CRLA would come

3:09

crashing down. In

3:13

news media, this is the journalist.

3:16

This is the final episode of Season 4.

3:34

Erika Littel, the woman who was arrested

3:37

in the car with Chris Bassam, battled

3:39

a drug addiction for years. By

3:42

2016, she was in this

3:44

vicious cycle of using, followed

3:46

by treatment, stints of sobriety,

3:49

and then using again. On

3:52

a crisp winter day, I drove

3:54

into the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. I

3:56

met Erika's father, Scott Littel, and

3:58

his wife, Erika's stepmom. Sherry

4:00

Acres. Erica

4:04

is buried here. Her grave

4:06

is surrounded by colorful pictures from her

4:08

life. Scott

4:10

told me that Erica was smart and

4:12

kind and despite everything that

4:15

happened, they had a good relationship. Her

4:17

and I always had a very

4:20

strong bond. We connected very

4:23

easily and we shared a

4:25

lot of the same interests. She

4:27

was very bright, very inquisitive. She

4:30

was somebody that people would confide in, somebody

4:33

that really cared about

4:35

people. Scott and Sherry never

4:38

gave up hope that Erica would be able to

4:40

get and then stay sober. She

4:43

had a monkey on her back and I

4:47

now understand that I never really understood

4:49

it and was

4:51

just way, way stronger than she was. She

4:54

had an addictive personality. She

4:57

was drinking and

5:00

you know, it moved into pills and

5:02

ultimately it moved into heroin and but

5:07

she fought against it and she had

5:09

some long periods of sobriety.

5:13

If she had not gotten involved with

5:15

the person who's the subject of this

5:17

podcast, who knows what

5:19

would have happened because I

5:21

will always feel like, you know, he set

5:24

her on a path that wound up with

5:26

her being dead. Erica

5:29

Littel was hired as a CRLA

5:32

site manager in 2012. At that point, it

5:35

looked like she had turned a corner in her

5:37

life. She was sober, had a stable place

5:39

to live, was in a healthy relationship

5:42

and she had a dream of becoming a

5:44

drug counselor. But in

5:46

2014, Erica relapsed which kicked off

5:49

a new battle with her disease. She

5:52

lost her job and her housing.

5:54

Her sober boyfriend broke up with her

5:56

to protect his own sobriety. So

5:59

what? What makes Erica's story different

6:01

from another story of relapse? Well,

6:05

the person who encouraged and enabled her

6:07

escalating drug use was Chris

6:09

Bathum. He had become her drug

6:12

dealer. And not just that.

6:14

Chris was actively derailing any

6:17

efforts Erica made to stay sober.

6:20

Here's Sheri, Erica's stepmom. Every

6:23

time she attempted to recover, he was

6:25

the one pulling her back in. We

6:27

had one situation where she was at

6:29

UCLA Hospital. She had a UTI that

6:31

was so severe that it was going

6:33

into substance. And we

6:35

used that opportunity to get her

6:38

to agree to go into a great recovery program

6:40

that would have gone from treatment into

6:43

sober living into a halfway house

6:45

and then a community. And,

6:48

you know, she was released from the

6:50

hospital into their care. This

6:52

was in 2016. By this

6:54

time, Erica had been in multiple treatment

6:57

facilities over the years. But Scott and

6:59

Sheri hadn't given up hope. Erica

7:01

left the hospital and checked into this recovery

7:04

program. But she

7:06

wasn't there for very long because she was

7:08

still in contact with Chris Bathum. Bathum

7:11

sent an Uber and

7:13

had her picked up and taken to an Airbnb

7:17

and delivered drugs.

7:20

And so every attempt we were making

7:22

to try to help her, every attempt

7:24

she was making to try to

7:26

get help, he was there

7:28

to obstruct. This

7:32

was so shocking to me when I heard it. Erica

7:35

wasn't at CRLA. She was

7:37

at a completely different treatment center trying to

7:39

get sober. And Chris Bathum

7:41

ordered her an Uber, which picked her

7:44

up from that treatment center and took

7:46

her to an Airbnb. And

7:48

then Chris delivered drugs to Erica.

7:51

He had been providing her drugs for about a year at

7:53

that point. Sometimes he would just

7:55

drop them off and sometimes they would do them

7:57

together. It

8:00

didn't know that they have piece together.

8:02

The truth over. Like.

8:04

When did you first hear that bath

8:07

I'm had been giving her drugs. I

8:10

don't recall specifically. I know

8:12

that somewhere along the lines

8:14

she told me. And

8:16

ways you. You know think

8:18

when she told you that. He.

8:21

Was something so horrible that they're hard

8:24

to wrap your mind around? And.

8:26

Twenty nineteen, Erica died from

8:29

an overdose and the combined

8:31

effects of that now methamphetamine

8:33

and morphine. She. Was getting

8:35

ready to go into a treatment center the

8:37

next day. You. Despite

8:39

all the shit that we'd been to

8:41

for so many years, you never, ever

8:44

expect the snap and you just know

8:46

I've heard that from other parents to.

8:49

It. Always comes as an unbelievable shock.

8:52

Eric as Dad. Scott theorize that

8:54

it was Crests. Who that Erica hooked

8:56

on? mass? And this is when things. Became

8:58

especially regressive for her worsening

9:01

her a deck sense. Erica

9:03

normally used opiates. I

9:05

will always feel like a gigantic

9:07

nail in our to coffin. Was.

9:10

The fact that. Bassem. Gave

9:13

her a lot of crystal

9:15

meth and got her into

9:17

Christmas is was my understanding

9:19

and mattress wreaks havoc with

9:21

your brain chemistry and you

9:23

suffer from tremendous depression and

9:25

your whole brain chemistry get

9:27

screwed up from It's like

9:29

why the hell would you

9:31

give somebody drugs is trying

9:33

to get sober if you're

9:35

in that rehab this. Mean,

9:39

I think it's a gigantic middle finger to the

9:41

world. He now am.

9:43

I think like some people may

9:45

be that.the have understanding of what

9:47

a dick san is or does

9:49

to person looking at it they

9:51

might ask. Yeah, there's instances of

9:53

her texting him and asking. Him

9:55

for drugs so see ask them for drugs

9:58

and gave them to her. You

10:00

know something, when they're in their addiction, it

10:02

takes them over. And the

10:05

analogy that I always use is it's like, you're

10:08

not going to talk a vampire out of wanting to

10:10

drink blood. And they

10:13

really have like a Jekyll and

10:15

Hyde personality. And

10:18

if she had really good self-control, she wouldn't have

10:20

been an addict to begin with. So

10:22

yeah, I mean, if she was not

10:25

sober anymore, she would text

10:27

anybody in the world to get drugs. And

10:29

it was his job not to give him to her. It

10:33

was his job not to give Erica

10:35

drugs or to give anyone drugs. It's

10:39

hard to understand what Chris gained

10:41

from enabling Erica, why he

10:43

seemed so set on perpetuating

10:46

her addiction. In

10:48

her testimony, Erica said Chris never

10:50

assaulted her. The relationship was never

10:52

sexual. Although there

10:54

were instances in which he indicated to her

10:56

that he would be interested in that. So

11:00

perhaps he was grooming her and

11:02

then ran out of time. Or

11:05

perhaps it's something unexplainable.

11:08

The lesson to learn from Christopher Bantham

11:10

is that there is pure

11:13

evil in the world. And

11:16

if you're not a person who spent a

11:18

lot of time around pure evil, you

11:21

can be fooled. You have things

11:23

that you wouldn't do. You have morals.

11:25

You have ethics. It's really hard to

11:27

imagine a person that would do anything

11:29

that has no morals, that has no

11:31

ethics. You can't understand

11:34

their frame of mind. I'm

11:42

not sure what the best word is to describe

11:44

Chris Bantham in the months leading up to his

11:47

final arrest. He was sloppy,

11:50

deranged, careless, most

11:52

likely high out of his mind on meth. LA

11:56

Weekly ran an expose about Chris Bantham

11:58

in December of 2015. titled,

12:00

A Drug Rehab Mogul Built an

12:03

Empire That's Now Being Probed by

12:05

the FBI, DA, and State

12:07

of California. In response

12:09

to this, Chris Batham made t-shirts

12:12

and other merch with the words, Rehab Mogul,

12:15

and sold them at the CRLA coffee

12:17

shop, Grounded. Then six

12:19

months later, on June 17, 2016, ABC's 2020 aired an episode on

12:21

Chris Batham. Danny

12:28

remembers this. I remember when

12:30

2020 came and they interviewed him and people were like, dude,

12:32

he's sitting there and he's like, standing a table, like, getting

12:34

ready for them to come, you know? When

12:37

Danny says, standing, he literally means,

12:39

standing a table, inferring

12:41

that Chris had been up all night

12:43

doing meth and completing random tasks like

12:46

woodworking. The guy who was

12:48

in charge was actually supplying you drugs. Yes, he

12:50

was getting even more sexually aggressive with

12:52

me. In the 2020 interview,

12:54

Chris denied the allegations of

12:56

sexual assault. He also

12:58

denied smoking meth, saying that he

13:00

just had naturally red eyes. The

13:04

interviewer asked Chris about his overdose at

13:06

the Malibu Riviera Motel back in

13:08

December. Chris said he

13:10

hadn't overdosed and that the story wasn't

13:13

true. He claimed his identity had

13:15

been stolen, but when pressed for more

13:17

details about the supposed identity theft,

13:20

he couldn't provide them. By

13:24

2016, Cliff Brodsky was

13:26

reinvigorated in his battle against Chris

13:28

Batham. After years

13:30

of what seemed like no progress at

13:32

all, now there was movement.

13:35

The press was paying attention. Cliff

13:38

posted something on Facebook offering to help

13:41

victims of Chris Batham. The

13:43

post has been deleted, but I've heard

13:45

that the wording of the post implied

13:47

Cliff might be willing to pay people

13:50

money to come forward. He

13:52

started to communicate with multiple women who

13:54

had been abused by Chris Batham. Cliff

13:57

spoke with one victim on the phone several times.

14:00

and told her that she needed to make a

14:02

statement. I said, look, you

14:04

need a statement, because no one's listened to

14:06

me. I'm telling this story to a lot

14:08

of people, important people, famous people, which I

14:10

can't name. They think I'm making it up

14:12

because it's such a crazy story. I shared

14:14

about this hundreds of times to professional people.

14:16

They just didn't believe me. According

14:19

to Rose and others I spoke with,

14:22

Cliff was aggressive in his communication with

14:24

some of the victims. He

14:26

pressed people to come forward to

14:29

make video statements against Chris Batham.

14:31

He was not sensitive to how

14:34

that could be traumatic for the victims. Here's

14:36

Rose. I don't think

14:38

that he meant it in a malicious

14:40

way. I don't. But

14:43

his actions could be really hurtful

14:45

sometimes. Cliff even admitted he

14:47

was a bit out of his depth. I've

14:50

never talked to a rape victim before. I didn't

14:52

go to school for that. I'm like, well, I'll

14:54

just google it. From Cliff's point of

14:56

view, he and Rose were the same.

14:59

Both burned by Chris Batham. Both

15:01

dedicated to justice. Both highly

15:03

organized and somewhat obsessive about

15:05

the case. But

15:08

a big difference between Rose and Cliff at

15:10

the time was that Cliff had something to

15:12

gain from all of this. Or at least

15:14

he thought he did. He

15:16

was bringing a civil lawsuit against

15:18

Chris Batham, suing Chris for over

15:20

$1 million. So

15:23

Cliff's motivation has been questioned.

15:26

Did he really want to help these victims or

15:28

did he just want to get his money back?

15:31

Rose eventually wrote Cliff and his

15:33

lawyer an email telling him to

15:35

stop communicating with her. So

15:38

I'm still here, but I made

15:40

a lot of enemies. Sure did. Fighting back.

15:42

Now we know why there's not many heroes

15:44

left and why people don't fight against bad

15:46

people. There's really no reason. No

15:48

one really gets any credit for it other

15:50

than just trouble, trouble, trouble. Unless you're a

15:53

police or investigative journalist, which I'm not. I'm

15:55

a musician. But I just got given

15:57

the job of doing it. session

16:00

with harming Chris Bassem would come

16:02

back to kick him. In

16:05

fact, it would threaten to jeopardize

16:07

Chris's entire trial. Subscribe

16:16

to The Opportunist wherever you listen to podcasts

16:18

to make sure you never miss an episode.

16:20

You can also rate the show and

16:22

write us a review at Apple Podcasts. It really

16:25

does help the show, so thank you so much.

16:36

Victims have been coming forward with

16:38

accounts of being assaulted and raped

16:40

by Chris Bassem. Amanda,

16:42

who we heard from last episode, got a

16:44

lawyer to file an official complaint on February

16:46

9, 2016. Women

16:50

would call me and the stories

16:52

would sound similar and match up.

16:55

And after a while, after you've listened

16:57

to five of those types of stories,

16:59

you're going, well, jeez, I mean, this

17:01

sounds real. This sounds like this is

17:03

really going on. This is

17:06

Alan Schimel. He represented eight of

17:08

Chris Bassem's victims, including Amanda. He

17:10

told me that it took a while, too long,

17:13

for law enforcement to begin an

17:15

official investigation into the sexual assault

17:17

complaints against Chris Bassem. Alan

17:20

has a theory about this. Some

17:23

of the women had tried to get law

17:25

enforcement to do something to investigate this failure

17:27

and look at them. And this is, again,

17:29

my own view on it. They were lukewarm,

17:31

I think, until they found

17:33

out that 2020 was doing a story.

17:36

And I think they knew that they'd

17:38

be embarrassed by it and

17:40

they wanted to get going on

17:42

it before it hit the airwaves.

17:45

And I think without knowing that 2020

17:47

was doing the story, I don't think

17:50

the law enforcement would have really

17:52

put much energy on it. They

17:54

certainly weren't putting much energy on it before. He

17:57

also said something that I think speaks

17:59

to. to how we view

18:02

people struggling with addiction versus

18:04

how we view successful

18:06

CEOs. Here you had

18:08

Batham, who was quote unquote a

18:10

legitimate businessman who owned about 30

18:13

rehabs, who made a ton

18:15

of money, who drove nice cars and could

18:17

afford nice things. And he paid a lot

18:19

of these people money. And I think they

18:21

kind of knew what was going on and

18:23

looked the other way. And

18:25

also there is this attitude about, you

18:28

know, a lot of these

18:30

folks deserve it. Or they'd be on

18:32

the street and he gave them a place to hang

18:34

their hat. And all of that discussion is pretty disgusting.

18:38

Law enforcement agencies had been investigating

18:40

Chris Batham for both insurance fraud

18:43

and sexual assault. On

18:45

November 10th, 2016, Chris

18:47

Batham was arrested after police raided

18:50

his home. Shortly after,

18:52

Kirsten Wallace was arrested as well.

18:54

Malibu rehab owners now accused of

18:56

sexually assaulting former patients. And

18:59

even more, he has also been charged in

19:01

one of California's largest insurance fraud cases. Batham

19:04

used to own at least 13

19:06

rehab locations in LA and Orange

19:08

counties and six in Colorado. There

19:10

are currently three lawsuits filed against

19:12

him. And now he's also facing

19:14

criminal charges. The

19:16

charges against Chris Batham were extensive

19:19

and damning. They included multiple

19:21

felony counts of grand theft and identity

19:23

theft for over $176 million. He

19:28

also faced multiple charges of sexual

19:30

assault, forcible rape and sexual exploitation.

19:33

Because the sex crimes charges are

19:35

violent crimes, that case took

19:38

precedent. The insurance fraud case was

19:40

put on the back burner. Chris

19:42

Batham pled not guilty to all of

19:44

the sexual assault charges. I

19:47

spoke with Carlos Spiga, Chris Batham's

19:49

attorney, about his approach to

19:51

defending Chris in trial. What

19:53

was your strategy? What did you feel like

19:56

you needed to convince the jury of in

19:58

order to win the case? The

20:00

forceful rape allegations in my mind were all

20:02

BS. That's not Batham's

20:04

style. He doesn't have to forcibly

20:06

make any of these women do

20:09

anything. They all did it voluntarily

20:11

and they did it for drugs. Yes,

20:14

you know, Batham gave them drugs,

20:16

but they took the drugs. Batham

20:19

offered them sex, they accepted the

20:21

sex. And I think

20:23

that that sense of shame also

20:26

on the part of the victims that they, you

20:28

know, not all

20:30

of the sex offenses that Batham was

20:32

charged with were forcible. In fact,

20:34

I've always held that he didn't force anybody

20:36

to have sex. That they all

20:38

did it willingly, albeit for drugs or

20:41

for access to drugs. If

20:43

Carlo could show that sex between

20:46

Chris Batham and his victims was

20:48

consensual, he hoped that would be

20:50

enough to convince the jury that there

20:52

was reasonable doubt surrounding the rape charges.

20:55

The prosecution, on the other hand, painted

20:57

Chris Batham as calculating in his abuse

21:00

and identified a pattern of predatory behavior.

21:04

Reinhold Mueller is a seasoned prosecutor who's

21:06

been with the Sex Crimes Unit for eight

21:08

years. He was the lead

21:10

prosecutor in the sexual assault case. Mr.

21:13

Batham would essentially would target each

21:15

of them, become familiar

21:17

with their weaknesses during

21:20

these therapy sessions that he would have with them.

21:23

They would disclose certain addictions,

21:26

childhood traumas, prior activities

21:28

that some of them have had. He would

21:30

learn all of that. And

21:32

then they would also reveal

21:34

the lack of family support.

21:36

So as he gains this information from

21:38

all of them, then all of a

21:40

sudden, the grooming kicks in. And

21:43

he would essentially become their father

21:45

figure, kind of replace the

21:48

support that they had from their family. They

21:50

would trust him, and then he would breach

21:52

their trust. I think that was very helpful

21:54

in the trial, very powerful, because you could

21:56

see that same pattern with all of these

21:59

victims. On January

22:01

9, 2018, the trial began. It

22:05

lasted five weeks and involved 14 different

22:08

victim testimonies. Reinhold

22:10

knew that it was possible that members

22:12

of the jury would have preconceived notions

22:15

about people who suffer from substance use

22:17

disorder. He decided not to

22:19

sugarcoat it. And so

22:21

I started off just letting

22:23

them know that, you know, these

22:26

are young women who are suffering

22:28

from drug addictions. I

22:30

let them know some of their backgrounds, you know,

22:32

that they've come from a history of sex or

22:34

drugs. All of the

22:36

issues that I thought would come out from

22:39

the defense to try to discredit them, I

22:42

just brought it all out. Can you speak

22:44

to what, you mentioned some things happened during

22:46

the trial that you didn't

22:48

anticipate happening. Can

22:50

you speak to what that was? Well

22:53

first of all, we lost one of

22:55

our victims. She died

22:57

right after preliminary hearing. And

23:00

I think that was attributed to her drug use.

23:03

So we didn't have her for trial. This

23:07

person's name was Jenny Irich. She

23:10

testified at the preliminary hearing and the

23:12

transcript of Jenny's testimony was used

23:14

in the trial. Jenny's story

23:17

is awful and heartbreaking. She

23:19

had health problems due to years of drug

23:21

use and she was told by her doctors

23:23

that she had to get sober or she

23:25

would die. She checked into

23:27

CRLA and she did get sober. Then

23:31

after 60 days in treatment, Chris

23:33

Bathum asked Jenny to become his

23:35

personal assistant. She was

23:37

allowed to come and go from CRLA as

23:39

she pleased. She started drinking.

23:42

This escalated into using. Then

23:45

Chris Bathum started giving her drugs.

23:49

He took Jenny to a hotel

23:51

multiple times, gave her drugs and

23:53

repeatedly violated her. Jenny

23:55

was never able to get clean after that. She

23:58

passed away before Chris Bathum said it. trial began.

24:01

Jenny's half-sister Nicole did testify at

24:04

the trial. She and Jenny's

24:06

experiences were similar. They were

24:08

both clients at CRLA and

24:10

they relapsed together. In

24:13

Nicole's testimony she described an incident at

24:15

the W Hotel in which

24:17

Chris provided Jenny and Nicole with drugs and

24:19

then had sex with both of them. Nicole

24:22

had to recount this incident and

24:25

others in graphic detail for the

24:27

court and then have both

24:29

the prosecutor and the defense question

24:31

her about it. After she

24:33

detailed what happened at the W Hotel

24:35

Reinhold asked her if Chris said

24:38

anything to her about this incident.

24:40

Nicole replied quote just

24:43

that the recovery of all of the clients

24:45

was on my shoulders you know if I

24:47

were to say anything then the place would

24:49

be shut down and all of these people

24:51

would be homeless and it would be my fault. For

24:55

many of the victims the result

24:57

of their experiences with Chris Batham

24:59

was that they had relapsed and

25:01

they were in varying stages of

25:04

addiction still. This impacted the trial.

25:06

For instance there was one witness who got

25:08

up to the stand and it became

25:10

very clear that she was high. She

25:13

had just shot up with heroin moments

25:16

before so she was testifying high

25:18

and it was really obvious that she was testifying

25:20

high. We tried to get through

25:22

as much as we could testimony on

25:25

direct exam. We ended the

25:27

day and then she didn't show up the

25:29

next day for cross exam. Reinhold

25:31

is referring to Erica Littel. Chris was

25:34

charged with furnishing clients drugs and Erica

25:36

was in court to testify about how

25:38

Chris provided her drugs and also about

25:40

the incident in the Tesla in which

25:43

they were both arrested. Erica

25:45

was supposed to return to court the next

25:47

day but she didn't show up. did,

26:00

and then she resumed her testimony. And, you

26:02

know, we had to let the jury know

26:04

and it was pretty apparent that she was

26:07

high on heroin at the time. Erica

26:09

did eventually make it back to court. In

26:12

her cross examination, Chris Bathum's

26:14

attorney, Carlos Spiga, questioned Erica

26:16

about the fact that she

26:18

needed money and Chris was

26:20

giving her money and drugs. Erica

26:23

responded by saying, quote, I

26:26

can see clearly that you have zero understanding

26:28

of what it means to be an addict. She

26:31

went on to say, it is a disease

26:33

that kills people. And part of that disease

26:35

and part of the reason that people like

26:37

you don't have any compassion for it is

26:39

because while you are using, you end

26:42

up doing anything to get that drug

26:44

because it is a mental illness, an

26:47

obsession that you can't

26:49

understand clearly. This obsession

26:51

would eventually lead to Erica's death.

26:54

One of the victims called Chris Bathum's lawyer

26:57

at one point and she said, if he

27:00

paid her enough money, she'd refused

27:02

to testify against Chris. This

27:05

was the messy reality. It could

27:07

be easy for someone to look at all

27:10

of these actions and think this

27:12

person is incredible and they're not telling the truth.

27:14

They could be telling the truth, but they could

27:16

also be trying to get money out of it

27:18

for drugs. You know, it's I

27:20

imagine it was very complicated. Correct.

27:24

You know, a lot of times people, they

27:26

have certain preconceived notions. They were these

27:28

victims of these sexual assaults. Why didn't

27:30

they act or why didn't they report

27:33

sooner or why didn't they get up

27:35

and leave? I had to get the

27:37

jury to understand the mindset a little

27:39

bit of these victims

27:41

where they were. This

27:44

CRLA became their family.

27:46

If CRLA were to

27:48

go away or be

27:50

shut down or if they were

27:52

to leave, they'd have nowhere to go. This was

27:54

their family. This was their support. Chris

27:57

had created an insular world.

28:00

in which both the clients and staff

28:02

deeply depended on him. He

28:04

had done something similar to Rose and

28:07

to Jill. They were emotionally and financially

28:09

dependent on both Chris and CRLA. When

28:13

they left, they were ostracized, not

28:15

believed, and cash-strapped. I

28:18

mean, I always, too, and maybe I'm cynic,

28:20

but I really think it was the money.

28:22

And I don't mean that it's that easy

28:24

to buy people off, but money,

28:27

security, and power, those

28:30

things I do believe can physically

28:32

change our brain chemistry, you know?

28:35

And so he was really good

28:37

at paying people for jobs they

28:41

didn't earn. You take somebody who

28:43

would never do a

28:45

bad thing and then you slowly, over time,

28:48

morph in. But most of the people there,

28:50

they were having jobs that people had four-year

28:52

degrees for and that do hundreds of hours

28:54

in licensing work to

28:58

get where they are and have a

29:00

license to lose and all

29:03

of this stuff and then still make less.

29:05

And so the fact that a lot of

29:07

people were being paid six years, I mean,

29:09

that has a lot of weight. It's really

29:11

easy to start readjusting your value system. Rose

29:15

was a victim advocate during the

29:17

trial, supporting the women who testified.

29:20

It was not easy. And even though

29:22

she was glad that she spoke up and was

29:25

eventually fired from CRLA, she

29:27

said the transition was hard. Yeah,

29:31

it was awful, terrifying, not being

29:33

paid by them anymore. We're, you

29:35

know, standing in the welfare line

29:37

and the night terrors because you don't know

29:39

if you're gonna pay rent or like food

29:41

or just my kid. I'm gonna be okay,

29:44

like all of that. That

29:46

was Rose's experience, someone who was

29:48

stable and sober. For

29:50

those who had relapsed, who were battling

29:52

an addiction, walking away from Chris Basim

29:55

could have felt impossible. B

29:57

complette. In

30:00

five weeks of trial, closing arguments concluded on

30:02

February 14, 2018. The

30:06

jury reached a verdict the next day. Chris

30:09

Bassam was guilty of

30:11

31 felony counts, including rape, forcible

30:13

oral copulation, and sexual

30:15

exploitation. He was sentenced to 52 years

30:17

in prison. Ultimately,

30:20

the jury believed the victims. As

30:24

far as the insurance fraud case goes,

30:26

I spoke with District Attorney Sean

30:28

Gibson. He investigated Chris Bassam

30:30

and Kirsten Wallace for insurance fraud.

30:33

And unlike the sexual assault case,

30:36

Sean said the fraud case was

30:38

relatively easy. All he had

30:40

to do was follow the paper trail. He

30:42

identified five insurance companies that ended up

30:45

being listed as victims. By

30:47

analyzing CRLA's insurance claims, he realized

30:49

that they were billing an

30:52

astronomical amount. They were

30:54

billing for every service, for every person, for

30:56

every day. They were doing

30:58

treatment on Christmas Day and New Year's

31:01

for everyone. The

31:04

scam went like this. CRLA

31:07

would open up a policy for a

31:09

client and bill that insurance company for

31:12

exorbitant amounts, charging multiple services

31:14

for every client for every single day

31:16

of the year. Once

31:18

the insurance company caught on and stopped paying

31:20

the claims, or if they maxed out

31:23

the client's benefits, CRLA

31:25

would open up a new policy for

31:27

the client with a different insurance company

31:29

and start the whole thing over again.

31:33

So what I saw is that if

31:35

an insurance company flagged

31:37

community recovery in their

31:39

associated businesses as

31:42

fraudulent and refused to pay claims,

31:44

they would go through a mass

31:46

effort of re-enrolling all those

31:48

people in a new insurance

31:51

policy. I would see

31:53

the enrollment records all done on the same day. I

31:56

would also see internal communications

31:58

where person-wise, she

32:00

identified it as a swarm

32:02

event where everyone would swarm

32:05

together and have to do

32:07

enrollments. Sean discovered

32:09

one therapist who was responsible

32:11

for about five million dollars worth

32:13

of billing from CRLA. From

32:16

the paperwork, it looked like she was treating 100 clients

32:18

a day for one hour each. You'll

32:22

notice they're not 100 hours in a day.

32:24

And then I interviewed the therapist and

32:27

she said I never treated any patients. She just looked

32:29

at patients and said this is fraud, this is fraud.

32:32

I didn't treat any patients. Any

32:35

bill that has me asked the treating physician is

32:37

fraud. Sean spoke

32:39

with several therapists who had interviewed

32:41

for jobs at CRLA. They had

32:43

provided their MPI numbers or

32:46

health care provider identifiers in

32:48

order to apply for the jobs. They

32:50

didn't get the job at CRLA,

32:52

but Chris went on to use

32:55

their MPI numbers to file insurance

32:57

claims. It became clear

32:59

that this was one of his strategies. In

33:02

addition, Chris Batham was keeping clients

33:04

at CRLA so that he could

33:07

continually bill their insurance. His

33:09

client staff model and his theory that

33:11

people needed to be in treatment for

33:13

longer really just meant that

33:16

he could keep billing their insurance and

33:18

keep getting payouts well after their treatment

33:20

ended. He was also

33:22

submitting insurance claims for staff members

33:24

who were not in treatment. As

33:28

Sean looked through banking documents, he

33:30

discovered something alarming. On

33:32

the day that Chris Batham was

33:34

arrested, there was activity on Kirsten

33:36

Wallace's bank account. Christopher

33:39

Batham had cameras everywhere.

33:41

And I think that they hit Christopher

33:45

Batham's home first. And at the

33:47

time the police were going

33:50

into Christopher Batham's home, Kirsten

33:52

Wallace began transferring money. Since

33:55

Kirsten was only convicted of insurance fraud,

33:57

which is not a violent crime, she

33:59

was sentenced to 11 years in prison,

34:01

but was released after serving about two

34:03

years. There were five insurance

34:06

companies as named victims in the case.

34:08

The billing amount was near $175

34:10

million. And

34:13

the amount that was paid out to them

34:15

for that type of thing, the

34:18

alleged charging document, was

34:20

about $45 million. And

34:24

were you able to locate or recover any

34:26

of that $45 million? Yes,

34:31

about $150,000. Yeah.

34:37

Do you, I mean, where's

34:39

the rest of it? Wow. Yeah,

34:41

that's the question that I asked too.

34:45

When Kirsten Wallace got out of prison,

34:47

she was exported back to Australia. She

34:49

was not an American citizen. So when

34:52

she was released from prison, she was

34:54

released to the custody of

34:56

ICE. You know, do you

34:59

ever wonder if she had wired some

35:01

of the money to some Australian bank

35:03

account? I do wonder that.

35:06

You know, when I reviewed the bank records,

35:08

I saw a lot of money being transferred

35:10

to, I think they're

35:12

called fifth accounts, and we

35:14

never followed where that money went. And

35:17

why is that? Why didn't you follow that? I

35:20

can't say. I know,

35:22

I really wanted to know, the

35:25

LA County DA's office doesn't

35:27

have the resources to follow

35:30

all of those transactions. It

35:33

would have taken a lot of resources and

35:35

time to investigate where all that money went.

35:38

They had a conviction, and so it was

35:40

left at that. Chris accepted

35:42

a plea deal for the insurance fraud charges.

35:44

It was a 20-year sentence, served

35:47

concurrently with his 52-year sentence, meaning the

35:49

most time he can serve is 52

35:51

years. After

35:53

the guilty verdict, there was a moment of

35:55

relief, but it wasn't over. There

35:58

was still one last play. that the

36:00

defense would make, and it was

36:02

based on evidence provided by Cliff Brodsky.

36:09

In August of 2018, six

36:11

months after the guilty verdict, Chris

36:14

Batham's defense filed a motion for

36:16

a new trial saying evidence

36:18

had come to light that was grounds for

36:20

a mistrial. A video

36:22

that became known as the Haley

36:25

G. Video. Haley was one

36:27

of the victims who testified against Chris

36:29

Batham, and there was a video

36:31

that looked like Haley was being coached on

36:33

what to say, and the

36:35

video was taken by Cliff Brodsky. The

36:58

discovery of this video now, months after

37:00

the guilty verdict were announced, could be

37:03

grounds for a new trial. Carlos

37:05

Biga believed that this was evidence

37:08

that Chris Batham's victims were lying.

37:10

They were being coached and paid

37:12

off by Cliff Brodsky. Brodsky

37:14

was very interested in developing

37:17

anything, any evidence

37:19

against Batham that he could that

37:21

might possibly assist him in

37:23

his civil suit with Batham. So

37:26

he was very involved, trying

37:28

to manipulate the people

37:30

behind the scenes. He was paying

37:32

Haley money. It is true that

37:35

Cliff paid Haley money. Haley

37:38

came to him and asked him for help. Then

37:41

he hired her to do some part-time work

37:43

and paid her for that work. What

37:46

was the work that Haley did for Cliff? Collecting

37:49

evidence against Chris Batham. I

37:51

asked her to work for me to help me go

37:53

through my transcripts and emails and help me

37:56

find evidence. And I was like, well, can you help

37:58

me? You know the guy. Intimately,

38:00

I mean, she worked for him in the

38:02

office and I was like, well, let's figure

38:04

out how to get bathroom caught Somebody's got

38:06

it packaged just data and go to the

38:09

cops But why was this

38:11

video being brought up now at least

38:13

two years later after Chris bathroom

38:15

had already been convicted? Well,

38:18

here's how it went down Back

38:21

in July of 2016 Cliff

38:23

Brodsky was trying to get victims to come

38:25

forward He filmed at least

38:27

two women making statements about how Chris

38:30

bathroom abused them and he helped a

38:32

third victim by editing her

38:34

written victim statement These

38:36

videos along with thousands of other documents

38:38

were part of a package of evidence

38:40

that Cliff had put together He

38:43

called it the treasure trove and

38:45

he handed out the treasure trove to anyone

38:47

he could think of he sent it to

38:50

ABC's 2020 to CNN

38:53

and he brought it to the Los Angeles County

38:55

Sheriff's Department So I walk

38:57

in and with my little banker

38:59

box and I roll in and I thumb drive my

39:01

laptop And I walk in and

39:03

they're all there and they're nice. They're all just professionals

39:05

and I give them a big long list of

39:08

like 25 people They're instrumental

39:10

key people victims and witnesses

39:12

and insurance companies Somehow

39:15

Carlos Spiga never saw that

39:17

video of Haley G until August of

39:19

2018 and When

39:22

he saw it he was upset See

39:25

Haley G had testified in the

39:27

trial and now here was this

39:29

video and it looked like Cliff

39:32

Brodsky was coaching her to

39:34

say that she was drugged

39:36

and raped by Chris bathroom Cliff

39:38

was mouthing the words as Haley spoke them

39:40

as if he came up with a

39:42

script for her to follow Chris

39:46

bathrooms attorney Carlos Spiga argued

39:48

that this video had been

39:50

intentionally kept from him That

39:52

the prosecution had withheld evidence Which

39:56

could be grounds for a mistrial? What

39:59

do you say? the allegations that the way

40:01

the video was filmed that it looked like

40:03

that you were coaching her into saying something.

40:05

I did. It absolutely was. But

40:07

do you see how that could make the

40:10

video seem inauthentic? Absolutely. That's the whole case

40:12

and the way it went down was I

40:14

was sitting there on the couch and she

40:16

goes I was raped and drug.

40:18

I'm like well tell everybody you were drugged and

40:20

raped it sounds better. Like I was just being

40:22

a vocal coach just saying it sounds

40:24

better as a lyricist, as a songwriter and

40:27

I was like I was I was even mouthing it

40:29

to remember her lines. That's 100% how

40:32

it was. Yeah. And yeah it

40:34

looks shady and yeah it looks bad but maybe if

40:37

she said it it would have more impact than me

40:39

sharing about it 50 times. Yeah

40:42

okay. So it wasn't like I was

40:45

like I'm gonna look stupid on purpose. No man.

40:48

This might sound like an

40:50

unbelievable explanation as to why

40:52

Cliff coached Haley in this video.

40:55

Why would it matter if she

40:57

said drugged and raped instead of

41:00

raped and drugged? This

41:03

explanation at face value it sounds

41:05

like Cliff just made it up after he got

41:07

in trouble for making the Haley G video. Except

41:11

that it's Cliff Bradsky we're talking about here.

41:13

And strangely I

41:15

do think he could be telling the truth and

41:18

here's why. Cliff is

41:20

obsessed with how things sound. He

41:22

is a vocal coach and a musician and when

41:25

I interviewed him he

41:27

kept doing this thing. If he

41:29

said a sentence that I guess he

41:31

didn't like he would retake it and

41:34

I never prompted him to do this. This

41:37

is the only way I'll get my money back

41:39

right? Take two. This is the only way I'll

41:41

get my money back right? That was the plan. Little

41:43

did I know that she was still working for

41:45

him. Little did I know that little did I

41:47

know take seven. Little did I know. I didn't remember

41:49

still that way but that well take seven. So

41:54

yeah I think it is possible

41:56

that Cliff coached Haley in the

41:58

way she phrased her statement. But

42:01

the result was that it looked like

42:04

Haley was lying. It looked like Cliff

42:06

paid her to fake an

42:08

accusation against Chris Bathum. I

42:11

do not believe that Haley was lying.

42:13

I think that her testimony about Chris

42:15

Bathum sexually assaulting her is true.

42:18

But the irony of the whole thing is that

42:20

Cliff Brodsky, who had been singularly

42:23

obsessed with getting revenge on

42:25

Chris Bathum, almost caused

42:28

a mistrial because of the Haley G.

42:30

video. In the

42:32

end, the judge dismissed the motion

42:34

for a new trial, essentially claiming

42:36

that the video was not intentionally

42:38

withheld and that ultimately it was

42:40

not exculpatory. She argued the

42:42

case was chock full of evidence and materials

42:44

and at times, the right hand did not

42:47

know what the left hand was doing. Cliff

42:50

Brodsky did end up winning his

42:52

civil lawsuit against Chris Bathum in

42:54

2016 on the grounds that Chris

42:56

intentionally misrepresented his business, was

42:59

negligent, and breached his

43:01

fiduciary duty. Chris was

43:03

ordered to pay Brodsky a little over $1.5 million.

43:05

But Cliff never saw the money. My

43:11

attorneys were like, good luck, Katie, you're never going to get a dime. But

43:14

it was more like, it was more just like I stood

43:16

up to the bully and I was like, okay, I

43:18

won, legally at least, and the

43:21

world will know that I fought

43:23

back and won. And it

43:25

only cost me $1.3 million in legal fees.

43:28

That was not nice. That hurt. So

43:31

you lost $1.3 million pursuing

43:34

Bathum and bringing him to justice. Hard to

43:36

say how much, but it's certainly at least

43:38

$1.3 million total, including the 650,

43:41

at least $700,000 in legal bills and other nonsense attached to it. If

43:46

you knew that that's how much it was going to

43:48

cost and that this is where we would be now,

43:50

would you still have done it? Yes. And

43:53

why is that? Someone had to do something,

43:55

you know what? God has chosen me to the

43:58

idiot to fight this guy. gave

44:00

me resources of time and time and

44:02

stupidity and guts and foolishness, all those

44:04

elements that it takes because no

44:06

one in their right mind would have done what I did. Nobody.

44:08

And I kind of feel like, you know what, what

44:11

a great story.

44:13

It's nothing else.

44:15

14 victims were represented in

44:17

the sexual assault case, but

44:19

this is likely only a fraction of the

44:21

total. There are so many others who are

44:23

unaccounted for victims of assault

44:25

and negligence who are either no longer

44:28

with us or whose relationship

44:30

to sobriety is forever damaged by

44:32

Chris Bathum's actions. Chris

44:35

Bathum seemed to believe that his

44:37

life was a scale, but

44:39

the good he did outweighed the bad.

44:42

This is how he justified the

44:44

abuse, the negligence, all

44:46

of the death around him and his

44:49

actions. To this

44:51

day, he maintains his innocence and claims

44:53

that all he was ever trying to

44:55

do was help people. Chris

44:58

Bathum has a new lawyer who recently

45:00

filed an appeal. Arguments are

45:02

scheduled to begin in October of 2022. Chris

45:06

did not respond to a request for interview.

45:11

For Rose Stahl, Chris Bathum's sentencing

45:13

ended a dark chapter in her

45:15

life, and yet it has taken a

45:17

lot of time to move past what

45:19

happened at CRLA. Rose

45:22

said in retelling her story,

45:24

old fears resurfaced, especially about

45:27

not being believed. Her

45:29

whole experience surrounding Chris Bathum

45:32

from his therapy sessions all the

45:34

way to helping convict him was

45:37

emotionally and physically stressful. Chris

45:40

Bathum tried to manipulate her

45:42

for years, but Rose's

45:44

commitment to being ethical and truthful

45:46

won out in the end. It

45:49

was always kind of interesting that he had chosen

45:51

me to have this kind of

45:53

close relationship with. He had to have known

45:55

that I would be, if anyone, the person

45:58

who would be like, oh hey. Hell no! And

46:01

do what I did. It's like she hadn't had to

46:03

know that, so that was what was interesting. To me,

46:06

it was like he was like bored with getting away

46:08

with his behavior, and so I was

46:10

his like race car or whatever. Rose

46:13

has since moved out of the LA area. She

46:16

recently told me that she is doing well,

46:18

building community in a new town. CRLA

46:23

had been sent cease and desist

46:26

letters for Chris Bathum's unlicensed facilities

46:29

as early as the summer of 2016,

46:31

when the investigations were closing in.

46:34

As the charges were filed, CRLA and

46:36

its assets were seized by the state,

46:38

essentially stopping the business in its tracks.

46:42

Justice was served for Chris Bathum, but

46:44

it only goes so far. For

46:46

the victims and the people who have lost

46:49

their loved ones, the victory is bittersweet.

46:55

Scott and Sherry visit Erica's grave

46:57

every Saturday. They are

46:59

proud of Erica for testifying against

47:01

Chris Bathum, for standing up

47:03

and telling her story, even though it was

47:05

a difficult thing to do. Erica

47:09

was very eager and committed

47:11

to exposing the fraud in the recovery

47:13

industry, and took a lot

47:16

of courage for her to testify against

47:18

Christopher Bathum in his trial. And

47:20

I feel like this gives us the opportunity to continue

47:23

her work. If

47:27

there's something that you could have done that would

47:29

have made a difference, or, you

47:32

know, why didn't I do this, why didn't

47:34

I do that? But that's, at least for

47:36

me, that's faded. And

47:38

now, you know, I really

47:40

miss her. And

47:44

I think that, you

47:47

know, she didn't die because of something I did,

47:49

and she didn't die because of something that I

47:51

didn't do. How do you

47:54

move forward from here? How do you start the deal?

47:58

Just something that you have to learn. learn how

48:00

to live with. When

48:04

you lose a child, it's the

48:07

hardest thing that you can ever go through in

48:09

life, but you have to, you know,

48:12

find whatever joy you can find

48:15

in life. I've seen parents that

48:17

are just crushed, just

48:19

crushed, like it's so horrible

48:21

to see them in just so much agony

48:24

and I felt that way

48:26

probably for the first nine months. But

48:28

I don't think that Erica would want this

48:30

to ruin my life. You know, you learn

48:33

to live with it just like if you

48:35

were horribly burned in

48:37

an accident, you know, it's like well

48:39

you're gonna jump off a bridge and if

48:41

you're not going to jump off the bridge

48:43

then you might as well learn how to

48:45

enjoy something. After

48:48

our conversation, Scott and Sherry walked over

48:50

to the cemetery pond to feed the

48:52

duck. It was a

48:54

small gesture, a way of spreading a

48:56

little bit of joy in a world

48:59

that can sometimes feel unimaginably painful. But

49:02

for a brief moment, I found this. Thank

49:26

you. you

50:12

If you're enjoying the opportunist, I would love

50:14

it so much if you would

50:16

take a moment go to wherever you listen

50:19

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50:22

also helps us a lot if you can rate and

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Podcasts. It really does help the

50:29

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