Would you let this man prescribe meds for you?

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http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-nigerian2mar02,0,4441719,full.story?coll\

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UCI Psychiatrist Bilked by Nigerian E-Mails, Suit Says

Dr. Louis A. Gottschalk lost perhaps $3 million over 10 years in the scam, his

son alleges in court documents.

By Lobdell, Times Staff Writer

March 2, 2006

A renowned psychiatrist from UC Irvine was duped into squandering at least $1.3

million of his family's fortune on a Nigeria Internet scam, according to a

lawsuit recently filed by his son.

The son, also an Orange County doctor, said his father — Dr. Louis A.

Gottschalk — gave as much as $3 million over a 10-year period in response to

an Internet plea that promised the doctor a generous cut of a huge sum of cash

trapped in African bank accounts in exchange for money advances.

The court documents, filed last month in Orange County Superior Court, allege

Gottschalk even traveled to Africa to meet a shadowy figure known as " The

General. "

Gottschalk — who at 89 still works at the UCI campus medical plaza that bears

his name — said in court papers that the losses were caused by " some bad

investments. "

Guy Gottschalk is asking a judge to remove his father as administrator of the

$8-million family partnership that was set up for tax purposes after the death

of his mother in 1993. A hearing is set for March 14.

The suit alleges that Louis Gottschalk destroyed bank records to cover up the

amount of his losses.

" While it seems unlikely, even ludicrous, that a highly educated doctor like

[Gottschalk] would fall prey to such an obvious con, that is exactly what

happened, " wrote Guy Gottschalk's attorney in court papers.

Louis Gottschalk and his attorney declined to comment, but they accuse Guy

Gottschalk in court documents of carrying out an unspecified " vendetta " against

his father. The son lost an earlier court effort to have a conservator oversee

the family partnership.

Fred W. , a Santa Ana lawyer who represents Guy Gottschalk, said neither

he nor his client would comment except to say, " This is an unfortunate and sad

situation. "

In court papers, Guy Gottschalk said his only motive was " to prevent Louis

Gottschalk from continuing to be victimized by these devious Nigerian scams. "

The Nigerian Internet scam — known in some circles as 419 after the Nigerian

statute that outlaws fraud — is a long-running con that preys on people with

e-mail accounts. Though there are scores of variations, the con begins with an

unsolicited message from Nigeria or other African nation — usually from an

alleged government official, banker or businessman who needs to find a way to

get millions of dollars out of his country.

If the target of the sting agrees to set up a United States bank account and pay

transfer fees and other charges, he's told that he'll get a substantial portion

of the money once it is freed up.

Though many of the alleged Nigerian e-mails originate in other countries,

Nigerian government officials said more than $700 million relating to 419 crimes

had been seized in the last two years. Twelve people have been convicted in

connection with the scam during that time, officials said.

While Nigerian solicitation e-mails are ubiquitous in cyberspace, the number of

people in the United States who fall for the con is small, according to National

White Collar Crime Center figures.

In 2005, 290 cases involving the Nigerian scam made up only 0.3% of the total

complaints of Internet fraud lodged with the government. The median reported

loss was $5,000.

But Kane, research manager for the National White Collar Crime Center, said

people blinded by greed continue to wire their money overseas.

" Although this scam has been around for years, " he said, " you continue to see

some people who forget the adage, 'If it's too good to be true, it probably is,'

and fall prey to a get-rich-quick mentality. "

Pratkanis, a UC Santa Cruz scholar and author of " Weapons of Fraud, "

said his studies show that cyberspace scam artists are adept at exploiting a

victim's weakness, whether it's diminished mental capacity, greed or compassion.

" Then there's a line that gets crossed when they send in the money and then

they're caught in a rationalization trap, " Pratkanis said. " One way to convince

yourself the scam is for real is to send more money, ironically enough. "

In the Gottschalk case, both the amount of the alleged losses and the reputation

of the victim set it apart.

Louis Gottschalk, a neuroscientist, is the founding chairman of the Department

of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at UCI College of Medicine. He gained national

prominence by announcing in 1987 that President Reagan had been suffering from

diminished mental ability as early as 1980.

He came to this conclusion by using the Gottschalk-Gleser scales, an

internationally used diagnostic tool he helped develop for charting impairments

in brain function, to measure speech patterns in Reagan's 1980 and 1984

presidential debates.

In 1997, Gottschalk gave $1.5 million to the UCI College of Medicine. In

exchange, school officials named the medical plaza after him and his late wife.

More recently, Gottschalk coinvented software that uncovered a link between

childhood attention-deficit disorder and adult addiction to alcohol and drugs.

And in 2004, at age 87, he published his latest book, " World War II:

Neuropsychiatric Casualties, Out of Sight, Out of Mind. "

According to Guy Gottschalk's account contained in court papers, his father

began responding to the solicitations from Nigeria in 1995. A year later, Louis

Gottschalk traveled to Africa to meet " The General " and other Nigerians " to show

them that he was sincere so he would get the money. " Another court document said

he also traveled to Amsterdam to meet the Nigerians.

Soon afterward, his son said Gottschalk admitted to him that he had lost

$300,000 and that FBI agents concluded that he had been a victim of an Internet

scam.

Several family members said that Louis Gottschalk promised to never again give

money to Internet solicitors.

According to Louis Gottschalk's declaration, he had lost about $900,000 in " bad

investments " by 1999. " I now realize that I was taken advantage of, " he said.

But his son said his father kept clandestinely wiring money to the Nigerians at

least until last fall.

Guy Gottschalk said that when he confronted his father in October, Louis

Gottschalk said, " Don't worry, everything will be all right on Thursday because

I will be getting $20 million. "

The son said his father also told him he'd get the money this time because these

were " different Nigerians. "

A few days later, a judge rejected Guy Gottschalk's attempt to put a conservator

over the family partnership. His father was evaluated by a court-appointed

investigator and determined to be competent, legal documents show.

Gottschalk's attorneys argue that the lawsuit is unnecessary because the family

partnership agreement allows for him to be removed by a majority vote of the

limited partners.

In a deposition, Guy Gottschalk said the person who held the swing vote refused

to take sides. It's unclear how many voting members there are.