Edmonton man promised liver, dies waiting

http://www.canada.com/Health/face+trial+global+organ+scam+victims+include+Canadians/1431896/story.html

U.S. man to face trial in global organ scam, victims include Canadians

By Jorge Barrera, Canwest News ServiceMarch 26, 2009 6:02 PM jbarrera(at)canwest.com

Out of options in Canada, Erwin Benke-Langier turned to the promise of a liver transplant in the Philippines, where he eventually died while waiting for the procedure.

Now, the man accused of bilking the Edmonton man's family of $70,000 in what U.S. authorities say may have been a global organ transplant scam is about to face trial.

Jerome Howard Feldman, 57, faces five counts of wire fraud for "allegedly carrying out a scheme to defraud desperately ill victims," said Carla Freedman, a prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney's office in Syracuse, N.Y.

Feldman is currently awaiting transportation to Syracuse from Guam, a U.S. protectorate state, where he made his first court appearance last week. He was arrested in Manila on Feb. 2 on immigration violations.

The prosecutor said investigators are also looking into a case involving an Ottawa-area victim, who allegedly wired $70,000 to Freedman from 2004 to 2005, as well as other victims around the world.

The current grand jury indictment involves three U.S. citizens and Benke-Langier.

Benke-Langier of Edmonton died from liver failure on July 11, 2008, in a Philippine hospital after he travelled to the country with a friend in a last-ditch effort to obtain a liver transplant, according to the criminal complaint filed in support of the indictment with U.S. federal court in Syracuse. Hospitals in the U.S. and Canada had decided he was not eligible for the procedure.

The exact reason he was ineligible was not revealed.

The man's widow was left with a $20,000 U.S. hospital bill, the complaint says.

The complaint describes a nightmarish scenario with an ailing Benke-Langier travelling from hospital to hospital in the Philippines with friend Brant Adamson looking for the doctor who was supposed to perform the operation.

The document says that in the midst of their search, with Benke-Langier's health failing, his wife e-mailed "Dr. Mitch Michaelson" — who had agreed to arrange the operation after he was contacted through the website www.liver4you.org.

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