One of Rhode Island’s most-wanted fugitives was arrested in New York last week after being on the run for more than 20 years, which was at least partially spent hiding as a biotech executive, according to Stat News.
In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Monday, California-based Immix Biopharma noted that Richard Graydon was terminated Friday for “reasons unrelated to his activities at the Company.”
It turns out, Richard Graydon was an alias for Ronald Fischer, a 70-year-old former anesthesiologist licensed in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, who fled amid his 2005 trial for first-degree sexual assault. Fischer was accused of raping a woman during a date on his yacht, Lion King.
That followed a similar incident in 1994, in which he was accused of raping another woman on another of his yachts, The Dreammaker. In that case, he ultimately pled guilty to assault and battery and received a two-year prison sentence that was suspended, according to the Boston Globe. At that point, his medical licenses were revoked.
Days before closing arguments for his 2005 trial, he sent his lawyer an email with the subject line “Goodbye,” according to the Providence Journal.
“Although I believe my trial has gone very well and expect to be acquitted and dismissed, the small chance of losing could carry extremely and unacceptably harsh penalties,” Fischer wrote in the email. “I have therefore decided not to take the risk and leave the US and enjoy life in another country where I have long been carefully planning a good, safe, secure and comfortable life.”
He was subsequently convicted in absentia and has been wanted for failure to appear, first-degree sexual assault, and flight to avoid prosecution since.
It’s unclear what he has been up to during his entire 20 years on the lam. However, police had identified more than a dozen aliases he had been using. His police profile described him as a “master yachtsman, a world traveler, and internationally connected,” and noted that he had been featured on the television show America’s Most Wanted.
Biotech career
Stat reported that in 2017, Richard Graydon self-published a book titled The Genetic Risks of Cancer: The Effects of DNA, Genomics and Inheritance on Aging and Survival.” The book described Graydon as an oncologist who had served as a chief medical officer in the biotech and drug development industry. It had no reviews on Amazon.
In October 2022, Atossa Therapeutics, a Seattle-based biotech, announced it had hired Richard Graydon as its interim chief medical officer.
“We are privileged to welcome Richard to Atossa, where his deep experience in CAR-T cell therapy fits well with our current strategic direction as we explore our opportunities in cell therapy,” Steven Quay, Atossa’s CEO, said in a statement at the time.
In March, Immix announced hiring Graydon, calling him a “board-certified hematologist-oncologist with over 20 years of experience in clinical development, most recently at Merck & Co. and Johnson & Johnson, where he led new and supplemental new drug applications and biologics license applications for 7 approved drugs including Darzalex, Carvykti, Keytruda, and Imbruvica.” Stat noted that these are some of the bestselling cancer medicines in the world.
“Dr. Graydon received his MD and PhD from Stanford University and trained at Harvard’s Massachusetts General Hospital,” the announcement said.
Stat could not verify any of that information, and Immix did not respond to requests for comment.
Graydon, aka Fischer, was arrested July 16 aboard a 56-foot sailing vessel called The Silver Lining. He was sailing on the East River in New York. US Marshals and the US Coast Guard intercepted the vessel and took Fischer into custody “without incident.”
In Immix’s SEC filing Monday, in which it reported Graydon’s termination, the biotech company said that “Given his short tenure, management believes there is no material effect on the business.”
