Doctor, Las Vegas man face charges for stem cell procedures

Prosecutors began presenting their case Monday in the federal trial of Henderson pediatrician Ralph Conti and an 86-year-old Las Vegas man charged in a scheme to defraud investors and chronically ill patients through experimental stem cell implant procedures.

Conti, 51, and Alfred Sapse each are facing one count of conspiracy, eight counts of mail fraud and 15 counts of wire fraud.

Senior U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson is presiding over the trial, which is expected to last two to three weeks.

Sapse was arrested in July 2010, as federal authorities accused him of duping patients and investors with claims that he was a retired physician who had developed a novel medical procedure involving stem cells.

"This is a case about lies and fraud," Assistant U.S. Attorney Crane Pomerantz told the jury on Monday. "They preyed upon the hope of these sick people."

Pomerantz likened Sapse - who was not a licensed physician in the United States but claimed to have a medical degree from Romania - to a circus ringleader attracting victims to the scheme.

Conti, a physician here for 20 years, was paid $60,000 in 2006 to perform 30 experimental procedures on patients with serious illnesses, including multiple sclerosis, knowing the procedures wouldn't work, Pomerantz argued.

The procedures involved surgically implanting placental tissue in the abdomen of the patients, generally after normal clinic hours, Pomerantz said. Vital signs of the patients weren't checked before the procedures, no records were kept, and no follow-ups to the procedures were done. Some patients ended up with infections.

Conti participated in the scheme to pay off tens of thousands of dollars in gambling debts with bookmakers, Pomerantz said.

Sapse received about $1 million from patients and investors and gambled away a large share of the money at local casinos, Pomerantz said.

Defense lawyers argued that Sapse and Conti believed they were trying to help desperate patients with the experimental procedures and were not looking to defraud them.

Dan Albregts, who represents Sapse, said his client has devoted himself to research and science his entire life and wanted to preserve his legacy.

"He was chasing his dream," Albregts said. "He was trying to do what was right. As he sits here today, he still believes."

Nancy Lord, who represents Conti, said the physician viewed his dealings with Sapse as a legitimate research venture.

"He did this for the love of his patients," she told the jury. "He's a good doctor."

Lord said there is no evidence that Conti was trying to "fool" his patients. They knew going in that the procedures were experimental.

"This is about people who had serious diseases who wanted choices," she said.

Prosecutors contend that Sapse entered an agreement with an unidentified Mexican doctor to replace Conti after Conti decided to stop performing the procedures.

According to prosecutors, Sapse formed Stem Cell Pharma Inc., a Nevada corporation, in May 2005 "in order to create the false impression that he operated a legitimate pharmaceutical company."

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported in 2007 that the federal Food and Drug Administration told Sapse to stop implanting adult stem cells harvested from placentas into patients.

The FDA sent Sapse a notice of its concerns in November 2006 after an inspection of Stem Cell Pharma Inc., which he operated in his Las Vegas apartment.

Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135.