Original subtitles

-We're wired like pack animals.

You know, we enjoy the company of other people.

We never do well alone and we never do well alone

in addiction recovery, that's absolutely true.

-I would almost guarantee historically that

at least one of those clients that you can see is dead.

- Feel it. - At least one or two.

-You get used to it.

We don't feel very good about that. We know better.

-Like, I'm I'm looking at this girl just thinking,

who's that girl?

And she looks familiar. Is she alive?

He took everyone's desperation and everyone's fear and said,

"I'll take care of it. Trust me."

And then he [bleep] people's children.

-In this country, we've been having

this war on drugs for [bleep] ever.

But we don't know how to treat anyone for it.

-For the millions who fight addiction.

A chance at true recovery feels like an answered prayer.

-In L.A. County, there are more treatment centers

than anywhere in the world,

not just in the United States, but in the world.

-But an organization called Community Recovery, L.A.

or CRLA for short, promises that their addiction treatment

is the best there is.

-At first it seemed amazing helping a lot of people,

and that's what it seemed like it was in the beginning.

-It was about the vision of what we were doing.

-Its founder asks members

for complete commitment and total trust.

-I was willing to do pretty much whatever they asked of us.

-Nobody would talk to outsiders. You bought it.

-We don't tend to think of addiction

and cults as going together,

but that's a perfect space for a successful cult.

-Now members of CRLA are revealing how a center promising

to pull them out of their dark hole.

Buried them in it.

-I drank the Kool-Aid.

-It turned people into believers.

And that's what you need

to have some sort of cult is true believers.

-I went to rehab to get better, and I came out...

worse.

♪♪

-Butterflies to me represent transformation

and becoming your truest, best, most beautiful self.

They fall off all the time, though, and I have to

re-apply tape and stick them down all the day.

My name is Amanda and I am a survivor and thriver.

I did AA from the age of 26

and I had been on benzos for three and a half years.

I tried to go out and drink normally

and I ended up binge drinking.

And so I was like, I'm an alcoholic.

-Recovery is huge in L.A.

These days, there is a treatment center

in every corner.

The market is saturated. Half this town is sober

and we're just waiting for the other half.

Some of the treatment centers have 200 plus thread sheets.

You can sit in the Jacuzzi, you can get your massage.

The problem, though, is that a lot of the treatment centers

are charging 50, 60, 70, 80, $90,000 I mean... unbelievable.

-"We want to make it as simple as possible

by offering a no-strings-attached

treatment for 90 days.

Yoga Time. Nightly Meditation.

12-Step Programs. Eating Habits. Wellness.

This sounds like a place that I would want to go to. Absolutely.

It was really hard for a long time to stay sober.

You know, I was able to put a year

together six months, nine months.

But after I got my year and I relapsed, I was like,

I need to go to treatment, but how do I get in to a place

when I don't have health insurance or $40,000 in my bank?

How am I going to afford a 90 day stay

at a Malibu place with a pool and a chef?

So I ran into a friend of mine, an ex.

We reconnected, started dating again.

And he happened to be working at the time at CRLA.

-So Amanda reached out to me

and I couldn't think of any other resource

or any other place that would take her in

without money or insurance Other than CRLA.

-Shoot enough heroin, and you too, can have this view.

Smoke crack. Yeah.

Smoke some crack and this can all be yours.

I admitted into CRLA in, I believe it was August of 2014.

Prior to that, I'd been in jail

for about three and a half months.

♪♪

-It's Hollywood. You know, there's so much

that people are drawn to on television.

Oh, my goodness. This used to be an after hours club right here.

Oh, my gosh. This is crazy. I think we should go back here.

This is all the offices, so I'll show you.

This is the entire block that Sierra owned on Melrose,

a prime real estate in Los Angeles.

-I couldn't really believe my luck.

I felt like I had fallen out of a frying pan into,

like, a feather bed,

like I was just living in the lap of luxury.

-Jodie Sweetin from "Full House" worked here.

I think a famous basketball or something player.

Celebrity Rehab, luxury.

Malibu, Melrose. That was very alluring.

-We were doing a creative writing class

with the guy who wrote "Cool Runnings"

while he was strung out on methadone in the '90s.

And because I had spent so much time in jail

prior to going there, I was just so grateful to be there at all.

-In 2012, Community Recovery

is one of the nation's fastest growing rehabs,

with multiple locations across California

plying a simple, but compelling, innovation.

-The method of CRLA was pretty genius.

A lot of rehabs out here are 30 days.

90 days increases your chances to stay sober.

-Although the longer stay comes with a higher price tag,

CRLA has a novel program for that too...

A scholarship for clients who can't afford

treatment on their own.

I just thought that the "scholarship" part of CRLA

was more of a we want to help more people.

-But CRLA's most revolutionary idea

is its long term care program,

designed to set addicts up for life beyond recovery.

-After 90 days of being there, you could apply to be an intern,

either in, like, operations

or clinical or the insurance department.

-That was the allure of CRLA is come do 90 days,

go to our sober living, become an intern

and then end up working for CRLA.

So it was like an at extreme.

I'm going to get a job out of this at the end?

-Compared to any other treatment center I'd been to,

it seemed like the most innovative approach to treatment

at the time.

-CRLA's innovative approach is all about communal healing

as the key to recovery.

♪♪

It's the vision of founder Chris Badham,

a practicing therapist and rehab veteran

who previously owned two centers in California,

and with CRLA is disrupting the rehab paradigm.

-It's a very much a community environment that we hope then

is porous to the rest of the larger communities.

You don't need to have in that model a lot of professionals.

You need to have some.

But more and more, we have the client base

that's creating the whole community effort.

And I love that idea.

It's almost like the whole thing is organizing itself.

-It's like too good to be true.

There are so many different opportunities,

like you could work in the art department,

you could work for the restaurant he was opening,

you could work at the recording studio he had.

You could work at the coffee shop.

And then within like a month or so, you're on payroll.

-Hiring recently treated clients to run the business,

keeps them under his wing

while also welcoming new clients into a rehab environment

that feels more like a family than a facility.

-The opposite of addiction is connection.

The reason that CRLA seemed so effective at the time

was because people did find community there.

But looking back on it was really kind of a genius

but sinister way to keep people dependent.

-You walk into this environment and it's a little different

than if you've been in treatment before that lifts you.

And it's like, Oh, there's the connection.

And literally, neuro-biologically

you're changing, and you're more valuable.

And that's a huge, huge thing.

-You need to be a part of this community

because this community is going to keep you sober.

You need this community.

-Let me show you this. It's a clip of Bathum in action.

Doing his magic. - My name is Jimmy Doyle.

I'm a certified addictions treatment counselor.

I moved up the ranks really fast to the point

where I became a counselor in a year, maybe?

As I moved up the ladder,

I started interacting with Chris more and more.

-I think one of the things that makes us amazingly different

is how committed our folks are

and how much they just are here for you and making that happen.

And it's easy to say that.

It's 29 seconds in and I'm drinking the Kool-Aid.

-We've created a treatment community.

We've created a place where people

can both live and get better.

-What he's referencing is therapeutic communities.

So a therapeutic community was this very out there, 24/7.

It was influenced by communes.

That's why it felt revolutionary.

It doesn't sound revolutionary to somebody

to oh, their community they all live there.

It was unheard of.

-CRLA's commune style approach takes off.

By 2015, just a few years after opening,

Bathum expands to Colorado

and opens dozens more facilities in the greater L.A. area.

Including multiple businesses

launched by the community itself.

-It was like a commune meets a kibbutz.

It was like, oh, my God.

Like they would open a barbershop

because one kid was a barber

and so they'd open a barber shop.

They opened a music studio.

-It was pretty much your entire life

would become CRLA once you started working there.

When I got there, they were just beginning construction

on a recording studio and that really interested me.

I came up with this idea

that I would be the creative music director.

I read my proposal aloud in front of the whole community

and it was approved.

I even compared Chris to like the Steve Jobs

of the treatment industry,

and I thought that what he was building

would become the industry standard.

♪♪

-Bathum works nonstop in the community.

Finding jobs for those in treatment.

Overseeing the women's-only facilities.

And running therapy sessions.

-They referred to him as the wizard.

He was wacky. He was unconventional.

But I just thought he was a character.

-Chris had a lot of, like, interesting hobbies.

He would often be seen throwing knives with clients,

flying drones around,

letting people drive his electric car.

And I think that he wanted to seem interesting

and just be seen as this outlier.

♪♪

-I was in some trainings in indigenous medicine

that were very community organized.

I was with the shaman in the Four Corners area of Mexico

and he said diseases were becoming more complex

and we're going to need a bigger medicine.

And that that's what I think we got when we're talking about

community as a treatment model is we got a bigger medicine.

-Chris wanted to offer a more holistic treatment.

He would do the sweat lodges which required us

in our bathing suits to sit in a dark,

small space with him in his underwear.

-I wanted to learn from him,

and I wanted him to take me under his wing, basically.

-Bathum is free to shape his treatment program

away from the prying eyes of regulators.

Because like a lot of drug rehab centers in California,

CRLA does not have state certification.

-The culture when it comes to medicine, treatment,

rehabilitation in California in general tends

to be quite accommodating of metaphysics,

sort of woo-woo wellness.

There is a reason why so many cultish groups

were founded in California.

-The organization brought sobriety

and successful withdrawal from heroin

and other drugs to hundreds of followers.

-Traditional institutions in general are thought

to be trying to control you in a dark and sinister way,

and thus the alternative path is the best one to take.

-One early group offering an alternative path through rehab

was Synanon, formed in Santa Monica in 1958.

-When you think about the power that a single person

or a small group of people can have over 500 residents

in Synanon, it just seems to scare our community.

-Much like Bathum, Synanon leader Chuck Dietrich

felt his calling was to build

utopian communities to save young addicts.

But over its 30-year history,

its utopia in California descended into cult rule.

-He ordered that all male members undergo vasectomies,

that women and men shave their heads,

that members change partners swap them for new mates.

-The segment of society that has done more to hold

Synanon back has been the media.

-There are definitely parallels between Chuck Dietrich

and Christopher Bathum in the addiction space.

That's a perfect space for a charismatic leader

to take advantage because there's so little oversight

and people are so hungry for help.

-Inside the CRLA family, Bathum is more

than just a charismatic guru.

He knows their struggles firsthand.

-The one thing that kind of attracted me to him

is he's just a drug addict. Like at the end of the day,

like he'd been down all these paths.

He was doing the real work

better than anyone else could do it.

-If it was easy, we'd call it stopping.

You know, addiction isn't easy and it's trickier

than we want it to be, and it's incredibly clever.

And it's, you know, part of who we are.

So it's not that easy to stop it

when we're not in the right space.

-Bathum being a former addict just gave him more credibility

that only another addict

can understand what you're going through.

-He was smart. He knew all the information about addiction,

about recovery.

-And I definitely want to make sure you're okay.

And if there's anything we can do to make it work better

for you now, we'll do it. You know, it sounds like

if you're in a stable place, great.

You know, stability is a good thing to keep.

♪♪

-I was very out of it when I came into community recovery.

They knew I needed help and I was just scared.

I was prescribed Xanax in my late teens.

I was a zombie.

I felt like, okay, this guy, he knows what he's doing.

-I been the kids being loaded a lot, you know?

I'm okay with it. I have very red eyes, too.

I mean, my eyes don't water very well, you know?

And so since high school, I've been, you know,

I've been told I've been loaded most of the time.

I can't... I'm having fun, but I'm not

chemically altered except caffeine this morning.

-I definitely thought he is totally out there

because he wouldn't look me in the eye.

But the comfort of Chris and him doing therapy with me

and getting to know my past, he felt like I could trust him.

-We're the perfect people to be brainwashed

because we were told that our brain was messed up

and that we didn't know our right thinking from wrong

because we're addicts.

-When you get people in their most desperate

time of their life

and you give them a reason to live, like,

of course everybody's going to jump on board.

-It was the perfect place for there to be a leader

and a following.

♪♪

-"Using the larger medicine of community treatment,

CRLA exists to heal your trauma and addiction

and provide you with the tools to transform your life."

Naturally, you want to be a part of a community

but a healthy one.

-Within weeks of being introduced to CRLA's program,

Amanda is a client fully immersed in treatment,

which includes multiple group sessions a week

on family dynamics led by Bathum.

-Everyone's kind of looking at you

and you know what it feels like if you're the person in there

as a problem in the middle of the family.

Anybody ever feel that before?

And when you feel that, how does it feel?

It doesn't feel very good, does it?

-It was deep.

You know, you're getting to the core of your issues.

And the program was great. - Connection.

And what you see in a community like this

is all those opportunities for this kind of stuff,

talking and being heard.

-You tend to bond with people that you're in treatment with.

People found like family

there that they just probably never had.

-When I first got to Community Recovery,

I couldn't stay sober and my life

was completely unmanageable. I had nothing. I had no family.

They brought me into their family, you know,

and I got told that it was free treatment.

And I think in the beginning they absolutely cared.

-Like Amanda, Jill is also offered a scholarship at CRLA

and fast-tracked into a job in the billing department.

-The guy who was doing their insurance billing relapsed

and ended up leaving.

I ended up taking over on the insurance.

-Many of the addicts who come to CRLA

don't have health coverage. But curiously,

Jill sees a flood of insurance reimbursements come in.

I'm getting checks in the mail for the insurance department

that are like multimillion dollars.

-I think when you look at big businesses,

you don't really question where the money's coming from.

There was all these scholarship clients and what we found out

is that they all got signed up for policies.

-Bathum, he was telling me

to just make up the insurance information.

This is a application form.

We would sign them up for a policy.

But the clients had nothing to do with it.

-Signing patients up for insurance without their consent

is identity fraud. But once clients have policies,

Bathum can bill the insurance companies

for as much treatment as he sees fit.

-We did things that were not legal, that were not right.

But at the time, it it seemed like the right thing to do.

You know, all the money

I was pulling in was letting him expand.

-You know why? Why? Why are we even thinking

about dictating having health insurance companies

dictating the length of treatment?

What do they know about it?

-These are actual notes that me...

I have my initials on these notes,

their medical records, all their therapy notes,

everything.

Someone coming in to CRLA without any insurance or money.

Was a gold mine to Bathum

because we could sign them up for an insurance policy

and get paid up to $100,000 or more.

-Yes. Is insurance fraud wrong? Absolutely.

Is that against the law? 100%.

Do they deserve it? Probably.

No one's [bleep] cryin' themselves to sleep

over insurance companies getting ripped off.

-Fueled by the fraudulent cash flowing in,

CRLA is quickly growing into an empire

with more and more clients going through treatment

and then getting promoted into staff roles

to run the program, regardless of their qualifications.

-He sent someone out to Colorado.

It was like 20 years old to go open up a bunch of houses.

-Like some people weren't even [bleep] qualified

to make a sack lunch

and they were like director positions there.

-You know, let's be real. They're not like

the best workers in the world. They're fresh in recovery,

and they often have poor work habits, if any.

And they need a lot of either supervision

or a lower expectation.

We get enough that they that they're you know,

it's good it's a good exchange.

-Lowered expectations can be dangerous in rehab,

especially on security sweeps.

-You know, in other places, they searched the clients rooms.

They weren't doing those sort of containment things at CRLA.

-Yes. Occasionally people do sneak drugs in,

but it doesn't happen as often as it happens at CRLA.

-Almost 90% of CRLA staff are recent clients,

but despite the uptick of drug use at the facility,

Bathum doesn't change course.

Instead, he creates even more jobs for his recovering addicts,

including some in his inner circle.

-My first inkling that something was sort of different

was when I noticed that all of his assistants

and drivers were young women. Those women didn't have a curfew

and often didn't need to be drug tested.

-I became his personal assistant.

Little tasks, whatever he would ask me.

-The sheer volume of clients that we had.

You wouldn't notice that one of them

wasn't where they were supposed to be.

-I brought drugs into the treatment center,

and I got high and passed out in the bathroom.

In the shower.

-By 2016, the number of overdoses

within the community is growing,

along with the doubts about the program's efficacy.

And not every relapsing client

gets a second chance at sobriety.

-This is Mo. He was incredibly charismatic.

-You got sweat between your rolls?

-Yeah.

-He was kind. He was raised well.

He was a good guy.

I remember that he had relapsed.

He, unbeknownst to staff, got another client's car keys

and he overdosed in that car.

This kid had no more life.

And...

We didn't help him.

-Felt like every couple of weeks I was getting news that someone

that we knew who'd been through the program had died.

I've probably worked at 30 different treatment centers

in the last 10 years and I've never seen

that many clients die.

♪♪

-Questions begin to swirl around CRLA

about the increase of relapses

and why authorities weren't being notified of overdoses.

♪♪

-They should have called the cops

if he was holding drugs in a treatment facility,

why the [bleep] didn't they call the cops?

Because maybe he would have gotten another charge,

but he might be alive today. At the same time,

the rumors were flying about what Bathum was doing.

So Bathum was working behind the scenes,

saying what to do and what not to do.

-Rumors began to go around.

Rumors about Chris's own drug use.

Look, if there's smoke, there's probably fire.

-We're getting the sense that something weird

was was happening,

and we didn't know exactly what it was.

But something's not [bleep] right.

-So many people, so many people got hurt.

And I hate that I didn't see it sooner.

I still feel guilty that I didn't notice this sooner.

I'm sorry.

Can you give me a minute? - Yeah.

-I hate that I did this. Take me off camera. [ Sniffles ]

[ Crying ]

So many people got hurt and I didn't know.

-You know, we've had enough deaths.

I think we've had people... seven... die.

Those motivate me a lot. Those feel like loss,

like losing all those feel like we didn't do it.

-Inside CRLA, the addiction recovery center

that's built a cult of community healing,

a spike of overdose deaths is raising doubts

about Chris Bathum's methods.

But he has an idea to help them keep the faith.

-He knew how to muster the troops, you know.

And, and he knew exactly what the [bleep] he was doing.

-Chris started doing an experiential program.

They sent us on adventures like to Colorado,

where we went on a 12-day camping trip.

But upon landing in Colorado, I still had like $600

in my bank account from the work that I was doing for Bathum.

I went and bought drugs off the street in Denver,

a city I'd never been to before in my life.

And I, um, I smoked some crack.

I was very vulnerable when it came to these sort of things.

I hadn't developed any of the tools.

-When staff relapsed at CRLA,

Bathum returns them to treatment.

This endless cycle of client to staff back to client again

stretches a rehab visit well past 90 days

and sometimes indefinitely.

♪♪

-Bathum created this sort of closed system

where even if you achieved your recovery,

well, then you were going to get a job that he controlled.

You're going to relapse.

It's one way that a cult can establish

these people are going nowhere, they are locked in.

-While Bathum's field trips may feel like freedom.

They're all part of the cycle.

Introducing opportunities for the addict to use,

sometimes encouraged by Bathum himself.

-I only had like four interactions with Bathum

before he asked a staff member

to take me off the grounds to Costco.

He told the staff that he was going to buy me new glasses.

When I got to Costco, he was being very erratic

and he was like, "Alright, walk with me."

We're driving. And I'm like, "Where are we going?"

Still didn't know.

"Oh, I got us a room at the Four Seasons."

I just kind of like,

"Okay, this guy is taking me to the Four Seasons?" like.

-Everyone kind of knew that there was something

not right with Chris with what was going on.

But no one ever really had anything concrete.

-Chris really had the pretense that he was a therapist

and he told everyone he was a therapist,

but he has, like, no degree on anything.

-No one knew he wasn't credentialed.

Because, I mean, what are you going to do?

Go up and ask your boss for his CV?

-Bathum didn't have a degree in psychology.

He wasn't a therapist.

He didn't even have my level of certification.

So it was completely made up.

-But at the time no one knows Chris Bathum's secret

including Amanda.

-I remember being very, very, very nervous

and having a sick feeling in my stomach.

But I went anyways.

When we get to the Four Seasons,

and he was like shuffling around looking for the key.

And a big straw comes out of his pocket.

And I look at it and I was like, "What is that?"

And he goes, "Ha ha it's paraphernalia."

And like, right then it was just like,

"Oh, my God. This guy is high."

♪♪

Everyone asks, "Oh, why didn't you run?"

But they weren't in the position I was in.

So I was like, "Are you on meth?"

He said, "Yes."

And I was like, "Oh my gosh, well,

I'm crazy enough about drugs."

That stuff scared me and gave me...

The thought of it gave me anxiety.

He lays down on the bed.

And I sit at the end of the bed.

Everything's processing.

And then, you know.

He stuck his fingers inside of me.

♪♪

He... I mean, I just... I don't know.

I don't really want to... This is not my favorite subject.

I just looked at him. I said, "Are you a sociopath?"

And he laughed. He said,

"Sometimes I think that myself, but answer me this.

Would a sociopath want to help so many people?"

♪♪

-Rumors began to go around.

Rumors that maybe Chris is high.

You know, that someone had found meth in his Tesla.

Maybe that he was hooking up with some of the girls.

And when I first heard these rumors,

I was just kind of like, that's impossible.

-Early on, I thought, "Well, see, that's why

he shouldn't have these girls as his drivers,

because the optics are bad

and those kind of rumors are going to go around."

-You know, like, look at the amazing work

that's being done here. There's no way that that

this guy could be doing any of that stuff.

♪♪

-I knew that I had to get out of there.

I got my stuff and I left. My mom picked me up.

I was very manic in the car. She knew something was up.

And then I just... I tell my mom everything.

You know, the one reason why I was there is to clean up.

And instead I end up way worse than when I got there.

-Amanda isn't alone.

Unbeknownst to the community,

Bathum's abuse has been going on for years.

♪♪

-There were people that knew and was turning the other way.

-Some time before Amanda's hotel encounter,

Bathum asked Hayley along to view a prospective property.

-My anxiety was very bad at the time

and I didn't know how to manage anything.

So he said,

"Hey, why don't you take the Xanax?" And,

"I've used before, but don't worry, this isn't you using."

This isn't a relapse for you.

You actually need this, and I can prescribe that to you.

And he handed me Xanax.

I remember him walking me around the property and saying,

Isn't this beautiful?

And...

We went up to a room and he kinda demanded me

to take my clothes off.

♪♪

And he ended up raping me.

♪♪

-I just. I never thought.

I thought that was stuff you saw in movies.

I didn't think that a real man who called himself a clinician

would do something like that to a young woman that vulnerable.

-So I told my case manager finally,

and my case manager brought me into Chris' office.

He just made a joke out of it pretty much and out of me.

And I didn't know how to respond to it.

I just felt completely demolished.

My heart felt broken and I was crumbling.

♪♪

-Soon, word of Bathum's behavior

starts to leak out of CRLA and appear online.

The stories catch the eye of

LA Weekly journalist Hillel Aron.

- it was certainly a yarn that I kept tugging at and tugging at. - LA Weekly journalist

Chris Bathum had no training to work in recovery.

A scammer, convicted felon, abused women,

not to mention the insurance companies

were investigating him.

So someone gave me Chris Bathum's phone number

and I remember he was very open

and was looking forward to being interviewed.

So I went over to his coffee shop.

I turned my recorder on.

-After interviewing dozens of former CRLA members,

Hillel's exposé is published.

♪♪

-I mean, I wrote the article alleging sexual misconduct,

sexual harassment, sexual assault,

sleeping with some of his patients

and giving them drugs, everything.

-Yet Bathum remains unfazed.

-He did not like the article,

but he certainly liked the title.

He put the title "Rehab Mogul"

ended up putting it on coffee mugs and T-shirts

and selling it at his coffee shop Grounded.

-He didn't have anybody to contend with,

so he just went off the rails.

-Chris just had this, like, God complex.

And did he have these demons in him from the very beginning?

I don't know.

-His setup just made you believe in him and his vision.

He got people to listen to him.

♪♪

Obviously there's strength in numbers

if it's just me going up against him?

I just knew that I had to stick up for other women.

I didn't want this to happen to other women,

and I was going to do everything in my power

to do my best to tell my story.

♪♪

-It was all of a sudden, like with a puzzle

when you see like all the pieces

and, like, like the minute it all came together,

I couldn't be there. I left.

-Newly dubbed "The Rehab Mogul," Chris Bathum's

standing in the community he founded plummets

amid revelations of his drug use and sexual abuse

of the clients who trusted him.

-Malibu rehab owner is now accused

of sexually assaulting former patients.

-Bathum refused our requests for an interview

but sent an e-mail stating "We are not going anywhere."

-Investigators think there are even more victims out there.

-Although authorities launch an investigation,

CRLA's doors remain open.

♪♪

-For two years, people were saying

that CRLA was, like, under investigation.

And I was like, "Is anything ever going to come of this?"

-My mom found the lawyer and was like,

"Just meet with them."

So I met with them and then they were like,

"If you know anybody else that this happened to."

And I'd heard a few stories. So I contacted those women.

-I probably went through about 20 phone call interviews

with various women.

I think that the LAPD and sheriff's department

treat addicts and alcoholics

almost as throwaway people unless you really hit them hard.

They are reticent to investigate it.

-This case lingered for years, longer than it needed to do.

I've Shaun Gipson.

I'm a deputy district attorney and a lead prosecutor

in the fraud investigation and prosecution

of Christopher Bathum.

I have never seen such a group of traumatized people.

-With testimonies mounting and media pressure

at an all time high, in November of 2016,

the FBI finally close in.

-One day, I got the news that CRLA had been raided.

I remember feeling finally it had been brought down.

-That was the day that I went and testified against Bathum.

-Amanda, Haley, and 11 additional victims

testify against Bathum at the sexual assault trial.

-Litigation is hard, especially trying to be sober.

I'm I'm happy that I went through with it.

That was the goal, to make sure that he didn't get away with it.

-That was probably the hardest thing in my life

that I've been through, was going through a trial.

And seeing him made me so angry and hurt,

but it also reminded me that I had to do this

and that it needed to end.

♪♪

-Bathum is found guilty of 31 counts,

including rape and $175 million of insurance fraud.

-Haley's testimony was, in many ways,

the killshot of that trial.

Bathum will most likely spend the rest of his life in prison,

and I think Hayley is a big part of that,

and she deserves credit for that.

-I've seen a wide variety of cases.

He's by far the worst. I think Christopher Bathum

is probably the most diabolical defendant

that I've ever had to look at.

-Bathum is sentenced to 52 years in prison.

And won't be eligible for parole until he's in his 90's.

But the industry he leaves behind remains

largely unregulated, one where charismatic predators

still have access to people at their most vulnerable.

-Basically, you and I could form a rehab tomorrow

with our German Shepherd and call it a rehab.

You know, the regulations are pretty much a joke in there.

They need to be tightened up.

-The industry as a whole is still, I think,

vulnerable to cult of personality.

I think there absolutely could be another Bathum today.

♪♪

-I'm at Vera's Sanctuary for Women.

There's about 18 women here.

I just came to try to heal the trauma of what happened to me.

And if I have anxiety or any thoughts or PTSD,

I come out here

and the plants, talking to them even, helps me relax.

-I'm just now I feel

like coming out of the storm finally, you know?

-I knew that if I didn't try to stand up for myself

and for other girls, that he might get away with it.

And that was a really, really big possibility at the time.

-The fact that he's off the streets

and can't hurt anybody else is the goal.

We succeeded in that. So for that, I'm proud.

♪♪