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  • Posted By: Anonymous
  • Submitted: 06/09/2012
  • Severity: 10
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Christopher Bathum

Drug Rehabilitation Scam

Los Angeles / Malibu, California

Stay away from Couds Rest Recovery in Malibu California!

There have been a string of rehabilitation centers infiltrated and or started by a gentleman named Christopher Bathum in Los Angeles and Mailbu Counties.

Do NOT place your friends, family or those you love under this persons care.

He has been accused of many criminal acts including insurance fraud, perjury, and has on many occasion been reported deducting unapproved funds from residents personal and families credit cards. He is involved in many lawsuits at this time. Check with the courts to validate this claim.

The rehabilitation business as a whole is fairly primitive and does not have the oversight necessary to stop certain predatory energies from praying on the ill.

Mr. Bathum operates under a cloak offering the lowest priced rehabilitation services available and then after contracts are signed he embezzles, lies and cheats his clientele out of every penny he can to meet overhead he cannot afford hurting all involved and creating a cycle of illness that is non-repairable.

I do believe that he is truly a very sick person and operates under the belief that he is helping in some way.

It is important that the state and other authorities stop this person from functioning in the recovery community here and abroad.

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There is no aspect of this man or business that was not fraudulent. We have evidence of secret billing under unsuspecting license holders and off the books accounting methods even the use of fake drivers licenses to cash the insurance checks. All this is documented.

In my entire adult life I have never been exposed to such a devious and destructive manipulator who will say and do anything to protect his Con. He attacks everyone elses integrity and honor as a method of protecting his own agendas. The single most destructive individual I have ever personally met. 100's of people have been cheated, lied to, stolen from and hurt.
This Guy, who lives in Mexico and is retired, has threatened on numerous occasions to post negative information on the internet if I do not pay him thousands of dollars. He is older and while I do feel sorry for his condition I have had to file complaints against him with the California Board of Behavioral Science and now in Superior Court, Words Matter.
Chris Bathum is a convicted felon. Convicted of federal fraud at least once. He is not legit in any sense of the word. Keep your loved ones away from this scum bag and anything he is involved with.
Bathum's next court date is july 11. He did not show up for the last hearing. Any court proceedings he is in he is the defendant. He lies every time he says he wants to help somebody.
This is posted by an unlicensed therapist who is being pursued around the country by ex patients trying to bring him to justice. I have been contacted by them. His name is Richard Hite. He is using other names to also post and try to extort money from those he feels he can hurt.
Christoper Bathum is the liar in this case. Matthew Wright worked with Bathum and is telling truth. Chris is a sick, sick man who is a compulsive liar, scam artist and thief. The "you know what" really hit the fan when he worked for an equally corrupt rehab called Season's in Malibu (the name of the rehab changes frequently due to licensing issues and fraud). Bathum is the worst of the worst - he is preying on parent's that are desperate to save the life of the addicted child. Bathum will do anything for money - of the seven deadly sins I assume he's committed all of them. Look on You Tube to see a racist rant by Bathum against his former employer's the equally horrible people that own Season's. Families please never send your child anywhere in the Malibu rehab community every, single entity in that area is horrible. They will take your money, and damage your family member. Of all the scum I've met in the rehab community Christopher Bathum, and Season's are the worst.
Christoper Bathum is the liar in this case. Matthew Wright worked with Bathum and is telling truth. Chris is a sick, sick man who is a compulsive liar, scam artist and thief. The "you know what" really hit the fan when he worked for an equally corrupt rehab called Season's in Malibu (the name of the rehab changes frequently due to licensing issues and fraud). Bathum is the worst of the worst - he is preying on parent's that are desperate to save the life of the addicted child. Bathum will do anything for money - of the seven deadly sins I assume he's committed all of them. Look on You Tube to see a racist rant by Bathum against his former employer's the equally horrible people that own Season's. Families please never send your child anywhere in the Malibu rehab community every, single entity in that area is horrible. They will take your money, and damage your family member. Of all the scum I've met in the rehab community Christopher Bathum, and Season's are the worst.
Bathum is a sociopath, he always has a lie to come back with. Everything posted here is a fact about him. He threatens, and badgers people into not holding him accountable and this time it did not and will not work. Stay away from anything he is associated with. He will soon be the subject of a series of articles etc as the scam artist of Southern California Rehab and that will be a very public event.He goes to any lengths to get money from clients and not pay his staff.
It never ends this guy bathum. the money he claims I am extorting from him is my overdue wages and travel expenses. (he owes otheres $10,000's) On another site he make false statement that I live in the four seasons in mexico and I am retired and that I have other claims against me. This experience has proven to me that some people will do anything, say anything, hurt anyone to perpetuate their own sickness and facade. I have been a therapist in california for 35 years and he knows that because he and his lackey kirsten wallace used my name license to commit insurance and mail fraud.......I have over 100 benefit explanations to prove my claim....what do he have execept his suspect words and phony postings.

May go you reap all that you sow mr. chrissy bathum.
Bathum is a professional con artist, convicted FELON for Bank Fraud and Mail Fraud. The way his scam work is very complex and treacherous. He is very convincing and highly skilled at pretending to want to help you. The real truth is that he is a mentally ill, criminally insane sociopath. Do a background check on him in LA Superior Court. He has been involved in 82 Civil Court cases. He constantly preys on newly sober people, and families who are in crisis situations. He gets people in to his fake rehabs which are unlicensed and illegal. Unfortunately, the ADP doesn't have enough regulatory power and physical people to STOP this kind of FRAUD. Bathum is so quick to switch his fake rehabs that the ADP can't figure it out until Bathum is onto the next scam. He goes into someone's home, rents it for a couple months, then stops paying the rent. He knows the squatting laws and usually stays for 6-9 months before he gets kicked out by the sheriff. Its called and unlawful detainer, which just happened to him in Decker Canyon this year. He's doing it NOW at his Melrose location. The owner of the building is going to lose her property because Bathum won't pay her the rent, won't leave, and he's actually threatening HER! He uses the court system to slow his victims down. Then he files personal bankruptcy. But he never finishes the paperwork, so he slows the process down further and at the end, runs away like a coward, to the next scam.
Bathum also is skilled at insurance fraud, bank fraud, mail fraud, check fraud and credit card fraud. He'll get people into his fake, unlicensed "sober living" homes. Which are nothing more than an old building with bunk beds. Then he'll "figure out" ways to extort money from the client and their families. Usually with credit card double and triple charging, fake medical billing, he'll even use photoshop to forge checks and double and triple deposits checks at late night check cashing places in the valley. He has multiple fake ID's, and fake names, fake identities, fake LLC's which he files half-assed on line for $25. Anybody can do it and he has done it so many times that he has perfected gaming the system.

Another aspect of how his scam work is actually fairly sophisticated. He'll get a licensed MD Doctor to sign on with him (even if its for just 24 hours), and get all their personal information and NPI #'s and other valid forms of identification, then start to bill insurance companies for massive fraudulent "services" that are never actually done. The way the scam works it that he will get the client to conspire with him on a certain level in the form of splitting the insurance checks that go back to the CLIENT. 99% of the time the newly sober alcoholic/addict has no problem getting free money from a scam artist fake rehab sociopath criminal.
The insurance checks eventually roll in, and the client cashes them, and comes back to Bathum with the money. So that way, Bathum isn't getting the money DIRECTLY and the insurance company fraud departments can't find out who's really doing the stealing.

Bathum has so many aliases and fake address's, and post office boxes that the ADP investigators, and the insurance investigators don't have the resources or skill really, to track him down.

Bathum also knows that if he steals less than 1 Million dollars, then the FBI and Postal Inspector won't bother with going after him because there are MANY more criminals like Bathum who are doing the exact same thing, except with much larger amounts.

Bathum has figured out how to steal just enough without getting caught. Over and over he has done this scam to hundreds of families and newly sober clients.

Bathum also will get unsuspecting investors to "invest" in his fake rehabs and then he'll bankrupt the company within a few months. He'll get a lot of people to work for him and then stop paying them and bounce their pay checks. Over and over he has done this. He has no conscience. He will look you in the eye and lie to your face 100% of the time and he's really good at it.

He's also really good at creating confusion and caos as a form of a smoke screen manipulating well intentioned therapists and client advisors to fight amongst themselves by creating lies and blaming people for screwing up when he is giving the orders that cause bad things to happen on a constant basis.

After he stops paying people, they eventually leave, usually unpaid for months, and then Bathum will get people to replace them and do the exact same thing to them. He keeps repeating his pattern over and over again.
He's also very creative with his scams with his elaborate lies and he is good at keeping track of many of his lies all at once. Constantly lying and cheating and stealing and manipulating and forging checks and double billing and double charging credit cards all the time. When a parent confronts him about a double charged credit card for a fake medical charge, Bathum will blame it on the employee and apologize and swear it will never happen again. He is the one giving the orders to his employees to double charge the clients!!!

He also has many people that are in on the scam to certain levels but who don't know the entire scam. The only one who knows the entire scam is his side kick and personal scam artist partner Kirsten Wallace. She will double charge the credit card companies and she will go to the check cashing fly by night pawn shop places and she will help him steal doctors identities and bill insurance companies for fraudulent "medical services" constantly. He has trained her and she is very loyal and extremely good at working his scam with him.

Another aspect of his scam is with Urine Analysis Testing. Normally, in a legit treatment facility or detox rehab place, and even most sober living places, there is the mandatory UA Tests. Bathum will bill insurance companies for massive OVER TESTING that never gets done. There's a lot of money to be stolen from insurance companies in just the UA fraud!!!!
In conclusion, here is a simple way to understand Chris Bathum's scam:


1. He gets people into his sober living places for dirt cheap.
2. After he has "bodies" filling the beds, he will get credit card information and insurance information.
3. If you don't have a credit card or any insurance, he won't admit you.
4. Of course if you have cash you are in any of his programs.
5. He doesn't have any legit programs because he isn't a doctor, or a therapist, or even sober!
6. He's on drugs himself, but worse than that he's a highly functioning sociopath!!!!
7. A sociopath is someone who appears to be calm and act normal, but who can lie to your face, steal your money, manipulate, con you, scam you, then after that, he'll try to sue you, or file a fake TRO (temporary restraining order) on you!
8. After he files the TRO, he won't show up in court!!!!
9. Why? Because he's a coward and criminal and a con artist. His motivation is to intimidate,
slow people down, milk them for cash, and make decent, law abiding citizens protect themselves against his fake legal attacks by hiring expensive lawyers.
10. It cost me $5,000 to defend myself against his fake TRO on me with my lawyers fee's.
11. Bathum never showed up in court, as usual, because his intention is drain people's money
one way or the other.
12. He's a professional criminal. Very skilled. He has no shame. He taught himself how to game the system and has come up with some very sophisticated scams.
13. He steals the identity of doctors and uses their licenses to bill insurance companies.
14. He over charges and double bills and runs credit card charges over and over.
15. When he gets caught for a double or triple charge he'll blame it on his intern or assistant and pretend that he had no idea how that could happen and that it NEVER happens and won't EVER happen again!
16. After he rips you off for every penny he can, he'll throw you out on the street and threaten you with physical, sexual, and emotional harm. A real nice guy as you can imagine.
17. If that doesn't work, he'll file a fake law suit making up ridiculous claims and attack you that way.
The bottom line is this: just go to the LA Superior Court website and do a name search for $4.95. You will find 82 Civil Court Cases involving Chris Bathum!!!!

The ADP and multiple insurance companies have begun investigations, but they are slow and underfunded for small time con artists like Bathum.

Right now the FBI and Postal Inspector have been given volumes of hard data evidence with identity theft of doctors and therapists who have been used for Bathum's fake insurance billing scams. The evidence is overwhelming.

So, its not really about IF he gets caught, but WHEN.

Good luck and for you and your family, I warn you to stay as far away from this convicted FELON and sociopath and criminally insane phony rehab con artist.
COMMUNITY RECOVERY IS BATHUMS NEW SCAM .... Be warned he is a felon:Name Age Locations Possible Relatives Complete Details
1
Chris Bathum
Also seen as:
C Bathum
Christopher J Bathum
51
Malibu, CA
Woodland Hills, CA
Agoura Hills, CA
Calabasas, CA
Chris Bathum
Christopher Bathum
Georgette A Bathum
Marie Louise Bathum
2
Christopher J Bathum
51
Topanga, CA
Santa Monica, CA
Malibu, CA
Woodland Hills, CA
Christopher J Bathum
Christopher Bathum
Georgette A Bathum
Marie Louise Bathum
3
Christopher Bathum
Sherman Oaks, CA
4
Christopher Bathum
Calabasas, CA
Christopher J Bathum
Georgette A Bathum
5
Christopher J Bathum
Woodland Hills, CA
6
Chris Bathum
Also seen as:
Christopher Bathum
Woodland Hills, CA
Christopher J Bathum
Marie Louise Bathum
7
Christopher Bathum
Tarzana, CA
8
Christopher Bathum
Topanga, CA
Chris Bathum
Christopher J Bathum
Marie Louise Bathum
Maris Bathum
9
Christopher J Bathum
Reseda, CA
10
Christopher Bathum
Agoura Hills, CA
Michelle Bathum
This man uses many levels of manipulation. Gaslighting, Isolation, Opportunity Loss, Hope, Instilling shame, putting you in a position where you have to hold secrets, Perversion, Drugging, Threatening, Lying, Stealing, Disappearing, Making Financial "Deals" with wealthy sick clients.
He's an abortion that should have happened.
He has now moved on to a site called Cold Canyon. Kirsten Wallace and Ninon Aprea are the front parties for this version of the scam because so many negative things have been attached to Chris Bathum's name that when you google it, you can't find his rehab for all the scam reports.
He changes names and locations but not the nature of his scams.
A waste of life. He will fool you just like everyone else he fools and pays off and bribes. Chris is the most unethical "practitioner" in existence. He preys on young women and makes them worse for his good, not better for their own good as promised to them. Disgusting person. Not even a licensed therapist and a complete fraud and addict. Save yourself the pain and suffering from this awful person if you really want to get better.
How to report Chris Bathum to the authorities:

Kevin T. (DN) (FBI) Fiore
(303) 630-6528
Kevin.Fiore@ic.fbi.gov
_______________________
Anthem
Special Investigator
debra.herzog@anthem.com
Lisa-Noelle.LeGare@blueshieldca.com
(805) 557-6985
120 S. Via Merida
Thousand Oaks‎ CA‎ 91362
_______________________
John LeBlanc - Partner

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP
11355 W. Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064
D (310) 312-4228 F (310) 914-5855

JLeBlanc@manatt.com
_______________________
ABC7
Andy Miller 720.413.7719
andy.miller@kmgh.com
http://www.insurance.ca.gov/0400-news/0100-press-releases/2016/release128-16.cfm
Owners of southland sober living facilities arrested in massive fraud bust

Patients and insurers victimized in alleged $176 million fraud scheme
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — California Department of Insurance detectives, assisted by multiple law enforcement agencies, arrested Chris Bathum and Kirsten Wallace on multiple felony counts of grand theft, and identity theft for allegedly conspiring to defraud patients and insurers out of more than $176 million through an elaborate conspiracy. Simultaneously, search warrants were also executed at 15 locations throughout Los Angeles and Orange County.

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