Online Organ Transplant Broker Charged With ...( Jerome Howard Feldman aka Michael Ad...),Health

Jerome Howard Feldman, aka "Michael Adams," "Dr. Mitch Michaelson," and "Alberto Gomez,"Arrested in Philippines for Immigration Violation and Removed to Guam

SYRACUSE, N.Y., March 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Jerome Howard Feldman appeared earlier today in U.S. District Court in Guam to address wire fraud charges pending in the Northern District of New York, following his arrest on Feb. 2, 2009 in Manila, Philippines, for immigration violations, announced Andrew T. Baxter, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York and Leonardo M. Rapadas, the U.S. Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Feldman was indicted by a federal grand jury in Syracuse, N.Y., on Feb. 11, 2009, for allegedly carrying out a scheme to defraud desperately-ill victims who paid large sums of money and traveled to the Philippines based on false promises from Feldman that they would receive organ transplants.

Feldman today admitted his identity before U.S. Magistrate Judge Joaquin V.E. Manibusan, and will be removed to Syracuse to face the wire fraud charges.

The investigation of Feldman began on June 26, 2008, when the DeWitt, N.Y., Police Dept. received a complaint from a woman concerning an organ transplant broker. Based on information on the Website "www.liver4you.org," the woman communicated by e-mail with a "Dr. Mitch Michaelson," who induced her husband to travel to a Philippine hospital to receive a liver transplant.

The victims were persuaded to transfer by wire, a total of $70,000 into an account in the name of "Alberto Gomez" at a bank in DeWitt, which "Dr. Michaelson" promised would cover all medical bills for the transplant procedure. "Dr. Michaelson" also specifically identified another doctor who would be performing the organ transplant in the Philippines. On July 11, 2008, the husband die
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