"Marcia" Bachmann Demands Payment for Fraudulent "Ex-Gay" Therapy

As many may recall, earlier in the year Wayne Besen's Truth Wins Out exposed Michele Bachmann's husband Marcus - a/k/a "Marcia" because he lisps like the biggest flaming queen one could ever meet - Bachmann as promoting "ex-gay" therapy at his "clinics." These "clinics" which appear to be masquerading as religious ministries - Christian counseling centers to be exact - to circumvent licensing requirements. Oh, and then there's that little issue of the American Psychology Association defining "ex-gay" reparative therapy as being unethical. Truth Wins Out exposed the fraud taking place at the Bachmann "clinics" by sending in the very cute John Becker with a hidden video camera. The rest is history - or so we thought. "Marcia" is in a snit and demanding payment for two fraudulent sessions that Becker failed to attend. Truth Wins Out's attorney's have written Marcia a letter dated November 17, 2011, basically telling her to put her demands where the sun doesn't shine. Here are some highlights:

Dear Dr. Bachmann:

The undersigned is personal counsel for John Becker of Burlington, Vermont.

It has come to my attention that Bachmann & Associates has wrongfully billed my client Mr. Becker, representing the organization Truth Wins Out, for therapy sessions that he never attended.

More so, you have personally called my client demanding he remit immediate payment to Bachmann & Associates in the amount of $150.00 for cancelled appointments. In truth and in fact, these so called appointments were timely canceled pursuant to and in compliance with your clinic’s stated procedures.

According to Bachmann & Associates’ no-show policy, patients are assessed a $75 fee for each appointment that they miss without giving prior notification. Becker’s telephone records indicate that he called the clinic in early July to cancel his remaining sessions, giving Bachmann & Associates ample time to schedule appointments with other clients.

However, if you are persistent in this claim, and attempt to employ the collection agency you have threatened to, you should know that my firm and our associates in your jurisdiction would take legal action against you.

Specifically, and you should make no mistake about the same, we consider your therapy and practices fraudulent. We have concluded your services are dubious and questionable, not worthy of any billing at all. We consider your fees and charges part of a larger civil conspiracy to defraud vulnerable individuals.

As you know, the American Psychiatric Association says that attempts to alter one’s sexual orientation can lead to “anxiety, depression, and self-destructive behavior.” Truth Wins Out has conclusively documented your office engaging in this discredited “therapy” while masquerading it as treatment.

If you go forward with your claim, we are prepared to show that your clinic’s presentations and practices are specious and surreptitious, unworthy of financial compensation. In furtherance of our assertion, we are going to ask the Office of the Minnesota Attorney General to investigate your policies, practices, and procedures. Specifically, we are going to ask them to evaluate the purported ‘scientific’ basis for your patently false representations that your clinic offers ‘therapeutic’ services.

We are gravely concerned that you contacted my client out of spite, because he disclosed the truth about the discredited and outmoded techniques practiced in your office, instead exposing the way you misled the public- by denying that this “therapy” was even taking place.

Please advise me that Bachmann & Associates will summarily dismiss this claim within 72 hours, or we will necessarily engage counsel and institute appropriate legal actions of our own against your firm, premised on the three legal arguments I have outlined above:

First, that my client was compliant with your business practices, albeit questionable though they are;

Second, that because your services involve a conspiracy to defraud otherwise innocent parties they constitute fraud in the inducement; and

Third, that your attempt to facilitate the collection of an unjustified debt constitutes a retaliatory and malicious prosecution, warranting attorney’s fees and court costs.

It should also be noted that some serious questions exist concerning Marcia's purported degree that would justify addressing him as "Doctor." The man, like his "clinics" is a fraud and he (with his business partner, Michele Bachmann) needs to be put out business.