Romney Profits From Health Company Facing Wrongful Death Suit
Even amid the media firestorm over Mitt Romney, his tax returns and his involvement in the predatory tactics of Bain Capital, there’s been less attention paid to how he continues to profit from Bain Capital investments that carry out his legacy: maximizing profits and revenues without too much regard for the human consequences.
A new article in Salon I’ve written looks at a Bain-owned health care company, CRC Health Group, with a legacy of abuse, neglect and wrongful death allegations involving its addiction and teen treatment programs. Mitt Romney has profited from this company — through his Bain Capital VIII funds registered in the Caymans. He also retains as a top fundraiser former Ambassador Mel Sembler, the finance co-chair in Florida, who has been enmeshed in controversies for decades because of his founding of his allegedly abusive teen treatment chain, Straight, Inc., shut down by the 1990s after numerous lawsuits, state actions to close sites, some criminal prosecutions, and leaving a legacy of damaged survivors.
Today, I’m scheduled to talk briefly about the article at 2:30 p.m, ET, on the Ed Schultz radio show, online and local outlets listed at Wegoted.com. The show is guest hosted by the “Ring of Fire” show’s co-host, attorney Mike Papantonio.
The article, “Dark Side of a Bain Success,” also found an alleged culture of what appears to be systemic abuse and neglect at the Bain-owned centers — despite six apparent wrongful deaths that took place after Bain Capital took over CRC in 2006, with no such seemingly preventable deaths occurring before. The Salon article builds on previous reporting by Time Magazine’s Maia Szalavitz, who broke the story in 2009 that the now-closed Mount Bachelor Academy encouraged lap dances as [...]