Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
StumbleDipak Desai posts $1 million bail in hepatitis C case
Monday, June 7, 2010 | 5:22 p.m.
Dipak Desai
Related Document (.pdf)
Sun Coverage
Sun Archives
- Grand jury indicts Dr. Dipak Desai in hepatitis outbreak (6-4-2010)
- Nevada Supreme Court dismisses appeal by Dr. Dipak Desai (5-19-2010)
- Health cost hikes may follow $500M jury award in hepatitis C case (5-17-2010)
- Plaintiff: $500 million ‘exactly what was needed’ to make statement in hepatitis C case (5-7-2010)
- Attorney seeking $1 billion in hepatitis C case (5-6-2010)
- Jury finds drugmakers liable in first hepatitis C trial (5-5-2010)
- Jurors to resume hepatitis C deliberations Wednesday (5-4-2010)
- Deliberations continue in first hepatitis C case to reach trial (5-3-2010)
The man who is the key defendant in the hepatitis scare that shook Las Vegas two years ago was able to post bail Monday to stay out of jail.
Dr. Dipak Desai, whose Las Vegas Valley endoscopy clinics have been linked to at least nine hepatitis C cases, posted a cashier's check for his $1 million bail late this afternoon with the Clark County District Court Clerk's office.
Desai, who had been under house arrest until posting bail, will be arraigned at 9 a.m. Wednesday in Clark County District Court before Judge Donald Mosley.
Last week, a Clark County grand jury indicted Desai and two employees, Ronald Ernest Lakeman and Keith H. Mathahs, on 28 felony counts. The indictment included charges of racketeering, performance of an act in reckless disregard of persons or property, criminal neglect of patients, insurance fraud, theft and obtaining money under false pretenses.
Bail was set last week at $500,000 each for Lakeman and Mathahs. As of late Monday, neither of them had presented themselves to authorities.
Desai's attorney, Richard Wright, told Judge Elissa Cadish that Desai and his businesses are in bankruptcy proceedings so he would need time to raise his bail. Desai has been on house arrest since Friday. The judge gave him until 5 p.m. Monday to raise bail or be taken to the Clark County Detention Center. A court officer said his bail was posted about 4 p.m. Monday.
Besides the nine hepatitis cases linked to Desai's clinic, the Health District said more than 100 other patients were infected. The outbreak prompted health officials to recommend testing for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV to about 50,000 patients. The Southern Nevada Health District said patients might have been infected when nurses and other staff members reused syringes on endoscopy patients.
The Health District also notified all patients who had undergone procedures at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada between March 2004 and January 2008 that they were at risk for possible exposure.
Desai, who faces several medical malpractice suites from patients who say they contracted hepatitis C at his Las Vegas clinics, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
In February, he surrendered his state medical license after having a series of health problems, including several strokes. He had practiced medicine since 1980
Discussion: comments so far…
Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Comments that are off-topic, vulgar, profane or include personal attacks will be removed. Full comments policy. Additionally, we now display comments from trusted commenters by default. Those wishing to become a trusted commenter need to verify their identity or sign in with Facebook Connect to tie their Facebook account to their Las Vegas Sun account. For more on this change, read our story about how it works and why we did it.
Only trusted comments are displayed on this page. Untrusted comments have expired from this story.
No trusted comments have been posted.
Post a comment
Most Popular
- Viewed
- Discussed
- E-mailed
Everything Under the Sun
Blogs
The Kats Report
Clint Holmes is a big deal at Cabaret Jazz and 'The Carlyle!'; Playboy's furry-ous closing; Elvis is a 'Legend'
Joe Pesci remembers his own honeymoon in Vegas -- meeting the Rat Pack (1 Comment)
Las Vegas Philharmonic says search for new music director to begin 'immediately' (1 Comment)
With Shenandoah project stalled, Wayne Newton hits back legally (7 Comments)
Where does a Playmate play when she turns 21? Vegas! (3 Comments)
Ice Ice Billy
The road to six-toed cats and Mayor Bubba
The Kats Report
David Itkin tells L.V. Philharmonic officials he's on his way out (14 Comments)
- Locally owned and independent since 1950; Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, best news website in the nation & DuPont Award for broadcast journalism
QUESTIONS:
Did the Bankruptcy Court approve this million dollar expenditure?
Does Mr. Desai still have possesion of his passport?
Does he still have a driver's license (supposedly having several strokes he is unable to drive)?
Has he been booked at the jail yet?
Why does this jerk still have any money?
I agree....the idiot who allowed this probably didn't ask the court to surrender his passport.
If your health doesn't take your life then life in prison will. How does it feel being on the rec'ing end of ill health and being a criminal.
I want to volunteer for jury duty.
This criminal has a million bucks? His assets should have been frozen a long time ago. He really needs to be behind bars along with his colleagues and the nurses and assistants who perpetrated these crimes on the citizens of Nevada. None of them should ever be allowed to practice in the field of medicine again. There should be a list of all these employees.
How can he file bankrupcy if he has a million dollars.
Hello.
Passport? This guy doesn't need to have a passport to flee the jurisdiction. Do you think any of those 12 million illegal Mexicans have passports? Those people come and go as they please. It's us that are living behind enemy lines not them.
Posts a certified check for a million?
Shocker.
The press needs to name name's of the judges and whoever else let this guy post a million bucks while in BK.His crimes were not victimless...What about them? Come on this guy a Dr.Mengele...With the greed factor of Bernie Madoff...
I hope that rat gets what he deserves and gets the death. those poor people who got Hepatitic C and HIV are innoscent people who trusted this cheap monster. Dipak if you try to hide someone will find you. Million dollar bail, he needs to pay those families back for the permanent damage he has done for them. The monster should rot in hell.
You have to ask how a person with a million bucks can be in bankruptcy???
We have BILLIONAIRES in BK.
Chapter 11, reorganization of debts.
There are so many ways for rich people to screw people out of their dough while protecting their OWN ASSets, it's a true marvel of financial shenanigans. And a boon to many a lawyer.
It's been so long since these proceedings started, he could've devised any number of devious plots to "shelter" a nice chunk of his fortune by now. This freak-show Doc and his high-priced solicitors have played the local law boys like a fiddle.
With his looks, Dr. Desai could have played and evil doctor
on tv or in films, and saved himself the associated hassles of litigation and jurisprudence that come with being one for real.
hey district attorney david roger...
is this the best you can do???
are only 3 people going to be charged???
answer me this pal...
do you actually wear a clown costume to work???
complete with a red nose and floppy shoes???
do you have one of those funny horns???
i love those funny horns...
hey attorney general catherine cortez masto...
have you done anything at all about the hepatitis epidemic???
anything at all???
or are you too busy writing editorials???
or perhaps going to clown school???
hey las vegas sun...
your use of the phrase "hepatitis scare" is pathetic...
do you think those infected think of it as a "scare"...
doubt it...
i would suggest the proper phrase is "hepatitis epidemic"...
you can do better...
I always thought it was 10% that had to be posted. But then again, how can he do even that without the approval of the bankruptcy court?
Something stinks here, as usual with our DA's office.
Can you say Bankruptcy Fraud?
This guy will dissapear just like the waste you flush down your toilet!
This makes it so obvious that our legal system is only about the money.
Didn't they already bust him once trying to ship all of his Mercedes back to Pakistan?
Generally speaking, if the defendant posts the entire amount (e.g. $1M) himself, that amount is returned to him at the conclusion of the proceedings provided the def has made all court appearances. If the defendant hires a bail bondsman, the defendant normally pays a 10% fee ($100k) to the bondsman, who in turn puts up the $1M bond. The $100k is not returned to the defendant. The bondsman keeps that as his fee for putting up the entire bond.
There may be variations, but this is fairly standard. I would defer to anyone who has inside knowledge of the bail system.