Can anyone think of a reason why a celebrity doctor would have inexplicably large debts and be the target of lawsuits and judgments?
Under watch:
In a recent piece on white collar crime, The Economist magazine mentioned something those who have read my books would predict: “Many [Club Fed and other white collar] prisoners suddenly discover, post-conviction, that they had a drinking problem….” I would add that those who don’t figure this out might benefit from greater introspection. In the spirit of The Economist’s discovery, a case is presented for which the evidence of alcoholism is in the behavior itself.
Dr. Conrad Murray, the cardiologist who was with Michael Jackson when he went into cardiac arrest. He filed for bankruptcy in 1992. If that were all, he wouldn’t be on our radar. However, this was followed by five tax liens totaling more than $44,000 between 1993 and 2003. While this would cause our antennae to go up, there was more. Three judgments were filed in 2008 against him or his company, Global Cardiovascular Associates, in Clark County, Nevada (home to Las Vegas), for more than $434,000, including $71,000 for education loans. Two other cases are pending involving allegations that Murray owes them a total of $355,000. But it’s often the small stuff that alerts us to likely alcoholism. In December he was hit with a nearly $3,700 judgment for failure to pay child support and his wages were garnished for almost $1,500 by a credit card company. He apparently still owes $940 in fines and penalties for driving with an expired license plate and no proof of insurance in 2000. Serial financial problems, divorce, disputing over relatively minor amounts, and driving with an expired license plate are all symptomatic of alcohol or other-drug addiction.