Fugitive May Have Had Secret Career in Biotech

Ronald L. Fischer didn't just disappear in 2005—authorities say he carefully scripted his exit. And he may have managed to pull off a second career in biotech under an assumed name. Newly reviewed federal court records detail how the Rhode Island man, recently arrested after more than 20 years on the run, spent days arranging his affairs, alerting loved ones, and researching how to shed his identity before vanishing in the middle of a sexual assault trial, reports Fox News. In an email to his lawyer, the former anesthesiologist allegedly wrote that he wouldn't "risk" a conviction over an assault on a nursing student and planned to leave the United States to live what he called a "good, safe, secure and comfortable life."

Investigators say Fischer transferred cars to his daughters, told them to clear out his house, dumped a Jaguar, booked and then canceled a Boston-to-London flight, and was last seen on surveillance returning a rental car and walking off with two bags. A search of his home turned up materials on changing identities and disappearing. Authorities now believe he slipped out of the country by boat and ultimately spent years aboard a 56-foot sailboat named Silver Lining under the alias "Richard Graydon." Incredibly, STAT News reports that it appears Fischer, using the Graydon alias, had a yearslong secret career in the biotech industry, including as an author.

The outlet reports that a Richard Graydon was hired last March by a company in Los Angeles called Immix Biopharma. The company disclosed last week to the SEC that Graydon, its chief medical officer, had been fired for "reasons unrelated to the company," and STAT notes that his since-deleted photo on the company website bore a resemblance to Fischer. Before Immix, Graydon's resume suggested he worked for other biotech companies, including Merck and Johnson & Johnson. And in 2017, an author by the same name with a similar biography wrote a self-published book, The Genetic Risks of Cancer: The Effects of DNA, Genomics and Inheritance on Aging and Survival.