Viswa Vanapalli
Christopher Bathum’s Community Recovery Los Angeles in California was closed when he was arrested along with his CFO, Kirsten Wallace. Together, they were involved in an elaborate scheme to defraud their clients and insurance companies. ABC News’ ‘20/20: Rehab Mogul’ chronicles the host of allegations leveled against Christopher and his company. So, if you’re wondering what happened to Kirsten in the aftermath, we’ve got you covered.
Who is Kirsten Wallace?
Kirsten is originally from Coffs Harbour in Australia. She moved from the United Stated to Newcastle, England, in 1999 to be with her mother. About seven years later, Kirsten and her daughter relocated to the United States and settled there. She eventually became part of Christopher’s company as the CFO, and during the early 2010s, CRLA was doing quite well as a luxury addiction treatment center for addiction.
After the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2012, insurance companies were mandated to pay for addiction treatment and recovery. As a result, anyone with a policy was eligible for $100,000 a month that the insurance company would cover and this incentivized rehab owners in a way. At the time, Christopher’s “sober living homes,” as they were called, were unregulated. He ran the facilities under a legal loophole where they were technically not rehabilitation centers.
Christopher and Kirsten then ran a complex insurance scheme in the years before they were arrested. After stealing patients’ identities without their knowledge, they bought health insurance policies under the patients’ names after lying about their circumstances. They also continued to bill former clients despite not receiving treatment while those clients were still working at CRLA. Furthermore, in most cases, Christopher and Kirsten billed for services never provided.
Where is Kirsten Wallace Now?
The authorities believed Christopher and Kirsten fraudulently billed around $175 million between June 2012 and December 2015. About $44 million was paid by five different insurance companies. In March 2018, Kirsten pleaded guilty to five counts of insurance fraud, seven counts of grand theft of personal property, six counts of identity theft, and 28 counts of money laundering. Then about 44 years old, she was sentenced to 11 years behind bars. It is likely that Kirsten is serving her sentence at a correctional facility in California.
Read More: Where is Christopher Bathum Now?
