State Claims Chiropractor Is Crooked

Ben Altadonna, seen here with Ed McMahon amazingly enough, is not the state's favorite chiropractor

​Bent out of shape by the alleged actions of chiropractor Benjamin Altadonna, the state of California has filed suit, claiming the health practitioner is deeply crooked.

In a case filed in Alameda County Superior Court, the state claims the Danville chiropractor fraudulently pedaled the futuristic-sounding DRX-9000 spinal decompression device and other ephemera to health practitioners statewide. Specifically, the suit claims, Altadonna said the DRX-9000 was a "proven" cash generator; scientifically tested to relieve herniated disc and lower back pain by 86 percent; able to increase doctors' profits by $50,000 a month or more; approved by the Food and Drug Administration; and recommended by NASA.

Those claims, as readers may have guessed by now, are dead on arrival.
 

The amaaaaaaaaazing DRX-9000

​In fact Altadonna, has never been able to substantiate boasts the device has been scientifically proven to be effective in the way he claimed -- let alone that it is a patented device (it isn't) that received FDA approval (it hasn't). He was reprimanded by the California Chiropractic Board in 2006, and was fined by the state of Oregon one year later for deceptive advertising practices.

When Monterey County District Attorneys in 2006 asked Altadonna to prove his claims regarding the DRX-9000, he was unable to do so. He was able, however, to begin transferring his material assets to other entities. Along with the chiropractor, several other entities and individuals he is purportedly tied to are named as co-defendants.

The most recent suit names no fewer than 16 unsubstantiated claims Altadonna allegedly made in hawking the device, which he would sell or lease out for between $90,000 and $115,000. 

The state is aiming for an injunction as well as penalties for false advertising, unfair competition, fraudulent transfer of assets, and violations of the Business and Professions Code. Not even the mighty DRX-9000 could cure that kind of pain.

H/T   |   Courthouse News

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