Just because the insurance company paid does not mean they didn't think it was a fraudulent claim. They just couldn't prove it. The laws are such and there are plenty of personal injury plaintiffs' lawyers that every insurance company is concerned about being sued for bad faith however questionable the claim might be. So they pay. That is not right and it's not justice, but its business.

However, RICO is a major problem for insurance fraudsters. Email is "mail" and if you can get a US attorney interested, folks do go to jail for insurance fraud.

I'm not commenting on this case, but the early cremation is curious, as is the fact that the wad made a separate wound from the main shotgun blast.

Settling aside the murder charges, I have seen people go to jail for a fraudulent insurance claim. Took an examination under oath today on a minor claim that has all the indications of a fraudulent claim.

Hats off to the embassy employee who thought things odd and took it upon themselves to go to the funeral home and take photos of the body before cremation.

Embassy employees don't always get credit for going over and beyond.

I don't know if Larry Rudolph is guilty of killing his wife or not. I do know that he's a major shady bullshitting fugger.

I was on a phone call with him when he wanted me to measure some antlers that a local taxidermist had for sale. The local taxidermist knew he had some trophy antlers to sell, but Larry wanted the largest scoring ones. The taxidermist had me come over and got me on the phone with Larry. After a few questions, it became apparent to me that Larry was a fugger and it became apparent to Larry that I would be a liability for him. In short, I refrained from measuring for him and he supplied me with an email address that he never responded to.

https://www.post-gazette.com/n...stories/202201270155

Ex-Greensburg dentist accused of killing wife on safari to remain jailed as flight risk, threat to murder witnesses, judge rules

TORSTEN OVE
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
tove@post-gazette.com
JAN 28, 2022 5:29 AM



A federal judge in Denver has ruled that former Greensburg dentist Lawrence Rudolph, accused of killing his wife with a shotgun on an African safari, must stay in jail because he is a flight risk and a danger to witnesses.

The decision Thursday by U.S. District Judge William Martinez upheld an earlier detention order by a federal magistrate judge.

Mr. Rudolph, 67, is charged with shooting his wife on a 2016 big-game hunting trip so he could collect nearly $5 million in life insurance and carry on a two-decade affair with his former office manager at the dental practice now run by his daughter.

He remains in U.S. custody in Denver but wants to be released, saying he didn't kill his wife, didn't flee before when he had the chance, doesn't have a passport to leave the country and hasn't threatened anyone.

The government disagreed on all of those points. Judge Martinez said there is probable cause to believe that Mr. Rudolph used a shotgun to murder his wife, Bianca, as the FBI alleges.

As for fleeing, Mr. Rudolph and his lawyer argued that he hadn't fled before, always returning from international trips despite knowing the FBI suspected him of murder.

The judge rejected that argument.

"To be sure, the defendant lacks any criminal history and has returned from his prior international trips despite knowing that he was under federal investigation," he said. "However, in the court’s view, there is a significant difference between the defendant knowing he is under investigation and knowing he has been indicted by a grand jury for foreign murder, a charge that potentially carries a life sentence."

The judge also agreed with the U.S. attorney's office in saying that Mr. Rudolph's wealth, estimated at $27 million in assets, provides him with the "means to flee." Mr. Rudolph lives in Phoenix but has a vacation home in Mexico.

Mr. Rudolph also had argued that health problems precluded him from fleeing, but the judge said his lawyer hadn't provided any medical evidence to bolster that contention.

"Moreover, there is evidence that the defendant’s health conditions are not so serious such that they prevent him from traveling to remote foreign countries to hunt big-game animals," Judge Martinez said.

Travel records and interviews indicate Mr. Rudolph flew to Ethiopia in May to hunt leopards, for example.

Mr. Rudolph's lawyer had also downplayed alleged threats his client made, chalking them up to an "abrasive personality."

But the FBI said Mr. Rudolph had made monetary offers to have people killed.

An agent testified that Mr. Rudolph had tried to hire a Nigerian hitman to travel to the U.S. to "shoot [a co-worker] in the head" and that Mr. Rudolph indicated he would shoot the co-worker himself. The agent also said a former employee at the Greensburg office recounted that Mr. Rudolph offered him $25,000 to have someone killed.

"And [Mr. Rudolph] reportedly went on to ask this individual, who appears to be Hispanic, if any of his hombres could come up from Mexico to facilitate this," according to the FBI.

"The serious nature of these threats, supported by the specific factual details of those threats, weigh heavily in the court’s determination that the defendant, who faces a life sentence if convicted of foreign murder, poses a danger to the community and the specific witnesses who may testify against him at trial," the judge ruled.

The FBI says Mr. Rudolph killed his wife Oct. 11, 2016, and then filed life insurance claims through seven companies for a $4.8 million payout. One of the companies is in Denver, which is why the case was indicted in that district.

First Published January 27, 2022, 5:35pm

Well,that’s interesting…………

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
Well,that’s interesting…………

Yes, indeed.

Maybe the modern day Untrustables got it right this time.

We shall see.

And I would love to know how a dentist got an estimated worth of $27 million…

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
And I would love to know how a dentist got an estimated worth of $27 million…

About $5 mil from killing his wife and insurance fraud

I assume if he can kill his wife for insurance fraud. This dental practice was largely insurance fraud

Mike

Sounds like the guys been convicted already from all this info.

Immediate cremation, wad hitting separately from the shot charge. His lowyers have a serious challenge.

Only other thing I can add is I had a personal experience with "judge bill martinez" when he was a local petty judge here in Pueblo. He's a one sided opinionated bastard that won't listen to reason. You can tell him I said so too. Until in court that day I thought he was a great judge.

George

https://www.post-gazette.com/n...stories/202202170134



Girlfriend of ex-Greensburg dentist accused of killing wife in Africa is charged with perjury, obstruction


TORSTEN OVE
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
tove@post-gazette.com
FEB 17, 2022 4:10 PM

The girlfriend of former Greensburg dentist Lawrence Rudolph, accused of murdering his wife in Africa to collect on life insurance, has been arrested in Arizona on charges of lying to a federal grand jury about her boyfriend, their relationship and the killing.

Lori Milliron, the former office manager of Mr. Rudolph's dental practice, Three Rivers Dental, surrendered Tuesday to Arizona authorities on a warrant out of the District of Colorado pertaining to a superseding indictment handed up on Feb. 9.

She is charged with nine counts of accessory after the fact, obstruction of a federal grand jury and perjury related to her testimony in January.

The new indictment repeats the murder and mail fraud charges against Mr. Rudolph, who the FBI says killed his wife Bianca with a shotgun during a 2016 big-game expedition in Africa and then tried to make it look like an accident so he could collect nearly $5 million in life insurance.



But it also added numerous charges against Ms. Milliron related to telling lies about cash payments Mr. Rudolph made to her, her affair with him and an ultimatum the FBI said she gave him to sell the dental practice and leave Bianca.

The original indictment had described the ultimatum as a motivating factor in the killing, but it didn't name the girlfriend.

The new charges identify her as Ms. Milliron, the former office manager of the dental practice who had carried on an affair with Mr. Rudolph for 20 years, according to the FBI.

The pair moved in together in Phoenix after the murder.

Ms. Milliron testified before the grand jury in Denver on Jan. 5.

The U.S. attorney's office said she "provided false and misleading testimony" about the money he paid her in 2015, 2016 and 2017 as well as details about the "nature, scope and circumstances of her relationship" with Mr. Rudolph, the alleged ultimatum and what Mr. Rudolph had told her about Bianca's death.

Prosecutors said Mr. Rudolph had paid her cash, in addition to her salary, starting in 2014, but she claimed that she didn't know why other than that he was "generous."

In 2016, prosecutors said he gave her $75,450 in cash and in 2017 he gave her $33,350.

When asked why he gave her less in 2017, she said she didn't know why.

The prosecutor, trying to establish her relationship with him, asked her if it is was because she was on his American Express card.

"No," she said. "The card was basically part of my— it's a Three Rivers Dental card. It was part of my perks, I guess."

That was a lie, the grand jury said.

The prosecutor also asked her that day if she'd given him an ultimatum. She said she didn't recall and later said no, but the grand jury said she was lying. Asked if she'd ever told anyone at the dental office that she had given an ultimatum, she also said no. But the prosecution has witnesses from the office stating she did.

When the prosecutor asked her what Mr. Rudolph had told her about the shooting and the FBI investigation, she said she didn't really recall. She later said he was "irritated that there was an FBI investigation because he felt he was innocent." The grand jury said both were lies.

Mr. Rudolph, 67, is accused of shooting Bianca on Oct. 11, 2016, during a leopard-hunting trip to Zambia. After the killing, agents said he filed claims on life insurance policies through seven companies to collect $4.8 million. One of the companies is located in Denver, which is why the case was brought there.

First Published February 17, 2022, 4:10pm

Sounds like someone needed a crash course in how to testify.

I am willing to bet this is all part of the tactics used in the case.

Not looking good for the tooth fairy….

Tooth fairy?

https://www.post-gazette.com/n...stories/202203290087



Arizona bar employees heard ex-Greensburg dentist say he killed wife, U.S. government asserts
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette logo
TORSTEN OVE
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



MAR 29, 2022 10:44 AM
"I killed my [expletive] wife for you."

That's what a bartender said he heard former Greensburg dentist Lawrence Rudolph yell during an argument with Lori Milliron at an Arizona restaurant bar in 2019, according to federal prosecutors in Colorado.

Mr. Rudolph, 67, is accused of murdering his wife, Bianca, with a shotgun during a big-game hunting expedition in Africa in 2016 so he could carry on his affair with Ms. Milliron, his long-time girlfriend and the former manager of his office in Greensburg.

Ms. Milliron has been charged with being an accessory after prosecutors say she lied during grand jury testimony about her relationship with Mr. Rudolph and the circumstances of Bianca's death.


The FBI says Mr. Rudolph staged the shooting as an accident so he could collect $4.8 million in insurance and have Ms. Milliron move in with him at his Phoenix mansion, which she did a short time after the shooting.

His lawyer wants the cases separated, but the government says the pair should be tried together because the facts are largely the same.

To bolster that contention, the U.S. attorney's office recounted new evidence that prosecutors said they learned after Ms. Milliron's Jan. 5 testimony.

On Jan. 19, an employee at a restaurant in Arizona, where Mr. Rudolph and Ms. Milliron were regulars in the back bar, called the FBI and said the bartender had heard Mr. Rudolph confess to the murder during an argument with his "wife" in 2019.

The bartender had previously been afraid to come forward.

But agents talked to him and he said that during a break in songs in the bar, Mr. Rudolph had yelled "I killed my [expletive] wife for you" loud enough for him and a nearby family to overhear.

"The statement was so shocking that the bartender immediately told his colleagues," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Bryan Fields in court papers. "At the time, the staff did not know that Mr. Rudolph had been previously married; they assumed that Milliron was his wife."



Employees later learned that Mr. Rudolph had been married previously and that his wife had purportedly died in an African hunting accident.

The grand jury considering charges against Mr. Rudolph was set to expire on Feb. 10. The day before, prosecutors presented the new evidence from the bar to counter what Ms. Milliron had said on Jan. 5.

The grand jury then handed up a superseding indictment charging her with being an accessory, obstruction and perjury.

Mr. Fields said the government should be allowed to present a single trial.

"The factual connections between the two defendants’ charges are manifold and enmeshed," he said. "The trial here will require a jury to consider whether Lawrence Rudolph murdered his wife to be with his mistress and whether that mistress, Lori Milliron, knew about the murder and took steps to prevent her lover from being indicted for it. The means by which Milliron accomplished that objective — obstruction and attendant perjury — are directly connected to concealing the murder and her role as raw motive for Rudolph’s appetite to carry it out."

Mr. Rudolph had originally been charged by complaint in December following an FBI investigation. After prosecutors file a complaint in federal court, they have 30 days to bring an indictment.

After Mr. Rudolph's arrest, Ms. Milliron listened to hours of testimony at his detention hearing, including testimony about their 20-year relationship. A day later she testified before the grand jury and "intentionally lied to help him avoid indictment," Mr. Fields said.

In addition to asking for a severance, Mr. Rudolph's Miami lawyer, David Markus, argued that the case against Ms. Milliron should be dismissed altogether.

He said that Bianca Rudolph knew about her husband's affair and that the government witnesses, including the bartender, aren't credible.

"Once Ms. Milliron explains to the jury that the government’s witnesses do not know what they are talking about and that the Rudolphs had an open marriage, the case will very likely collapse," he said.

He said Ms. Milliron did not demand that Mr. Rudolph leave his wife. But by indicting her as an accessory, he said, the government can keep her “credible” testimony from a jury.

"The government’s indictment of Ms. Milliron is intended not only to sideline her from a trial in which her first-hand knowledge is indispensable to the jury’s fair consideration of the evidence but also to infect the jury with improper innuendo concerning Dr. Rudolph’s guilt," Mr. Markus said. "The obvious implication is that Ms. Milliron would not have had to commit perjury unless she had some reason to think Dr. Rudolph was guilty of murder and fraud."

Mr. Fields said, however, that Ms. Milliron was charged because she knew about the murder and tried to help Mr. Rudolph get away with it "so that she could continue to live in romantic bliss in his mansion, on his vacations, and surrounded by the luxuries available to a multi-millionaire."

He also noted that Ms. Milliron is not the one asking for the dismissal. Mr. Rudolph, he said, has no standing to challenge his girlfriend's charges.

Ms. Milliron is charged with nine counts. Prosecutors said she lied about cash payments Mr. Rudolph made to her, her affair with him and an ultimatum that the FBI said she gave him to sell his dental practice and leave Bianca.

That ultimatum was the motive to kill Bianca, prosecutors said.

The FBI said Mr. Rudolph shot her on Oct. 11, 2016, during a leopard-hunting trip in Zambia, then filed claims on life insurance policies held by various companies. One of those is in Denver, which is why the case is being prosecuted there.

First Published March 29, 2022, 10:44am

It seems a visit to a dentist might well be more dangerous than a big game hunt in Africa...

If they're not killing "iconic" lions they're killing their wives

quote:

Originally posted by ChrisTroskie:
It seems a visit to a dentist might well be more dangerous than a big game hunt in Africa...

If they're not killing "iconic" lions they're killing their wives

“Iconic” wives you mean?

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

quote:

Originally posted by ChrisTroskie:
It seems a visit to a dentist might well be more dangerous than a big game hunt in Africa...

If they're not killing "iconic" lions they're killing their wives

“Iconic” wives you mean?

I have always felt that Canadians in camp were bad luck.

Nothing against Canadians.

I like them.

Except for Trudeau.

I have hunted in Canada, with Canadians, of course, multiple times with great success.

Not so, in Africa.

Canadians have always been bad luck for me in African hunting camps.

Incontrovertibly.

But dentists? Now I am thinking about not hunting with them, either!

I guess the worst, at least for me, would be a Canadian dentist.

quote:

Originally posted by Jefffive:

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:
Who is the ph in Zambia ?

Mike

Not sure he should be named but it happened in one of the Central Kafue concessions

What's the trophy fee for a wife?

Is that what the term trophy wife means?

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — The former Westmoreland County dentist charged with killing his wife on an African safari will stand trial this summer.

Lawrence Rudolph of Three Rivers Dental Group will go on trial starting July 11. But in a surprising twist, he’ll stand trial alongside his alleged mistress.

The FBI accuses Rudolph of killing his wife, Bianca, while on a safari in Africa. His alleged mistress and former office manager, Lori Milliron, faces charges of lying to cover for him and giving him an ultimatum to leave his wife.

The judge decided that the facts of the case are similar for the two alleged lovers and called it “efficient” to combine the trials. He expects the trial to last three weeks and involve dozens of witnesses who can speak to what led to Bianca’s death.

The trial will take place in Colorado. That is where Rudolph is in jail and is the home base of the FBI agents leading the investigation.

Meanwhile, CBS’ “48 Hours” will air a special episode Saturday at 10 p.m. about the case called “Death on Safari.” It will feature members of the KDKA-TV news team who have been covering the story. Watch the full story Saturday at 10 p.m. on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.


https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.co...Wa3YEo9p56a73tqWOKe8

I just realized I met this guy before- at a sporting clays shoot for a hunting group- if I remember correctly he had been bitten by a croc not long before then. It will be interesting to see how things go in the court room.

quote:

Originally posted by JustinL01:
I just realized I met this guy before- at a sporting clays shoot for a hunting group- if I remember correctly he had been bitten by a croc not long before then. It will be interesting to
see how things go in the court room.

True

Anyone has an idea how to mount a trophy wife?

Spread, face down on the floor, like you would a zebra skin rug.

From rear with pillow under hips

I have seen ads on TV this morning for the show. Should be interesting.

Some say the croc attack was questionable. No idea myself .

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
I have seen ads on TV this morning for the show. Should be interesting.

Some say the croc attack was questionable. No idea myself .

The croc attack occurred when fishing. By all accounts, the croc grabbed his hand and twisted off his thumb. It also took part of his calf off as he swam for shore. He had gone out fishing whilst the PH rested in camp. The PH found him much later.

Considering the other circumstances I would say there was foul play.

Obviously I wasn’t there for the croc incident nor am I sticking up for him, but he did tell some of the others about the incident. He had a glove on his hand, I don’t remember him mentioning losing his thumb, either- but it was a long time ago. I also don’t remember him saying about his leg being injured, just that he was reaching in the water for a tiger fish and then the croc bit him. Again- I’m not sticking up for him (or standing against him)- just recounting what I heard to the best of my memory.

quote:

Originally posted by JustinL01:
Obviously I wasn’t there for the croc incident nor am I sticking up for him, but he did tell some of the others about the incident. He had a glove on his hand, I don’t remember him mentioning losing his thumb, either- but it was a long time ago. I also don’t remember him saying about his leg being injured, just that he was reaching in the water for a tiger fish and then the croc bit him. Again- I’m not sticking up for him (or standing against him)- just recounting what I heard to the best of my memory.

The sad thing is this couple conducted a buff hunt in Royal Kafue prior to moving on to Mumbwa West and Bianca was a very fine lady. Beautiful and very well-mannered. Whatever happened we lost a fine and gracious woman.

We watched the show. No new revelations came out of it . It was interesting.

Talking of crocodiles, here is a story for you.

I shot one in Tanzania in the afternoon.

Dragged him and put him right next to the landcruiser for pictures.

The other hunters in the other car came over too when they heard the news on the radio.

The croc was as long as the landcruiser.

I was happily taking pictures of him, close up and all over.

Including opening his mouth and holding it open and taking photos of the inside.

Someone said "careful, he is blinking"

I stopped, looked at his open eyes.

I tapped him on the head, he closed his eyes.

We continued this just for fun, tapping him on the head, and at each tap he closes his eyes and open them again.

Quite amusing, knowing how these reptiles behave.

We loaded him in the other car to be taken to the camp.

We went off hunting.

On the way back in the evening, they called us on the radio, saying the croc was alive in the butcher, and to hurry up and shoot it again!

When we got to camp, we found that they had killed him.

Apparently he started chasing them around, eventually the caught him and someone put a knife in the back of his head.

I thought I got a lucky break on that one.

I understand that the shotgun was a Browning. Does anyone know the type of action it had?

It seems to me it would most likely have been a semi-automatic or an over-under double.

I’m not sure if one can bring a semi–auto into Zambia.

In any case, I would think if it were a semi-auto, they should’ve located the ejected shell casing. That might’ve told the story.

If it were a double, I think I’d check to see if it had an automatic safety.

I’m no expert on CSI.

Still, it doesn’t seem that the Zambian police are very well schooled on the finer points of CSI, either.

IIRC semi auto anything is not allowed in southern African countries……

https://gazette.com/premium/ju...2f-b50c750d1db4.html

Judge declines to transfer foreign murder trial out of Colorado, says venue is proper

By MICHAEL KARLIK michael.karlik@coloradopolitics.com May 2, 2022 Updated 3 hrs ago View Comments



A federal judge rejected the narrative from a man accused of murdering his wife on an African safari that U.S. prosecutors improperly charged the defendant in Colorado as part of a scheme to evade a 232-year-old law.

The trial of Lawrence Rudolph, set to begin on July 11, will remain in Colorado despite the defense's attempt to transfer or dismiss the foreign murder charge against him. A grand jury recently indicted Rudolph for allegedly killing his wife, Bianca Rudolph, around Oct. 11, 2016 while the two were on safari in Zambia. He also faces a charge of mail fraud for reportedly misrepresenting the cause of Bianca's death in order to obtain $4.9 million in life insurance claims.



The fraud charge stemmed from insurance documents mailed to an address in Englewood. Authorities in Mexico, where Rudolph was on vacation, detained and deported Rudolph in late December 2021, and law enforcement arrested him at Denver International Airport.

Rudolph challenged the authority of the federal government to charge him with foreign murder in Colorado, pointing to a law originally enacted in 1790 that requires trials for crimes committed outside the country or on the "high seas" to take place wherever a defendant was arrested or "first brought." Because "a commercial airline that landed in Atlanta, Georgia" first brought Rudolph to the United States after his alleged overseas murder, the Northern District of Georgia was the proper venue for his trial, he argued.

U.S. District Court Judge William J. Martínez rejected that line of thinking.

"To the extent Congress wanted to clarify that the phrase 'first brought' means the location that an offender first arrives of his own volition after allegedly completing his crime, it could have done so. It did not," Martínez wrote in an April 26 order.


The defense had accused prosecutors of "cherry-picking" Colorado as the location to charge Rudolph for foreign murder. His lawyers noted that authorities could have arrested Rudolph in Arizona, where he lived, but waited until he was out of the country to seek his extradition to Colorado. Those tactics allegedly ran contrary to the 1790 law that permitted trials only where a defendant was arrested, "first brought" or, as the law now reads, last resided.


The law "reflects the Founding Fathers’ firm belief that giving prosecutors their choice of venue is inherently unfair," Rudolph's lawyers wrote.

In arguing their case for a change of venue, the defense referenced an 1832 appellate decision from Massachusetts involving a revolt on the high seas. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story noted that the 1790 law providing for alternative trial locations was intended for "general convenience." A ship may have to seek refuge away from its home port due to weather or the defendant may escape into another jurisdiction, making some degree of flexibility necessary when trying crimes that occur outside of the United States, Story wrote.

Because Rudolph was arrested in Mexico, the defense argued, his trial location had to be where he was first brought after committing his crime: Georgia.

The government found fault with that reading of the law and attempted to justify Colorado as the trial venue. First, Mexico only deported Rudolph, meaning he was arrested in Denver. Second, the 1790 law requiring defendants to be tried where they are first brought only applies when there are criminal charges against them.


"His flight to Atlanta right after he murdered his wife is irrelevant because no authorities brought him to Atlanta under restraint in connection with the murder," wrote the U.S. Attorney's Office for Colorado.

Martínez agreed with the government that Colorado was where Rudolph was first brought in connection with the criminal charges. The 1790 law and its subsequent modifications gave prosecutors options for trying crimes occurring outside of the United States, and, with Rudolph's case, "the government merely exercised that choice," the judge wrote.


He also refused to dismiss the foreign murder charge because, Rudolph claimed, it did not allege sufficient facts to establish Colorado was the correct place for trial. Martínez instead found that the charge correctly listed the key elements of the offense and sufficiently put Rudolph on notice of the allegations.

Martínez previously rebuffed Rudolph's request to be detained in, effectively, a private home-based jail pending trial.

The case is United States v. Rudolph et al.

https://www.post-gazette.com/n...stories/202205260140


Feds say ex-Greensburg dentist charged with murdering wife shot off his own thumb; defense says an African croc bit him

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette logo
TORSTEN OVE
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
tove@post-gazette.com
MAY 27, 2022 6:53 AM

Did big-game hunter, wealthy dentist and accused killer Lawrence Rudolph lose the tip of his thumb to an African croc back in 2006 or did he shoot it off himself to collect $3.5 million in insurance?

That's one of the issues in dispute in the federal murder case in Denver against Mr. Rudolph, a former Greensburg dentist accused of shooting his wife on a 2016 African safari and staging it as an accident so he could take up with his mistress and collect nearly $5 million in life insurance.

As part of its prosecution against Rudolph and the mistress, Lori Milliron, the U.S. attorney's office wants to introduce the thumb story to bolster its contention that Rudolph committed insurance fraud 10 years earlier in the same remote part of Zambia where the FBI said he later shot his wife.

Prosecutors earlier this month filed what's called a Rule 404(b) motion to allow evidence of prior criminal acts to show someone's intent, in this case an insurance ripoff.



The U.S. attorney's office believes that during a 2006 safari to Kafue National Park to hunt water buffalo, Rudolph shot off his own thumb and then said a croc got him.

He collected $3.5 million on insurance claims.

The Chinyembe hunting camp where he stayed is the same one in which the FBI said Rudolph murdered his wife Bianca a decade later.

The government said that given the lack of witnesses to that 2016 shooting, "the value of the crocodile fraud in establishing that Rudolph chose remote Chinyembe as a location to murder his wife is highly probative of his intent, planning, preparation, and lack of accident."

Prosecutors said Rudolph collected on disability insurance because he said he couldn't practice dentistry anymore.

"The 'accident' led to probably the best outcome imaginable: The injury specifically disabled Rudolph from working — he could no longer physically practice dentistry in an office — but he could continue to draw profits from his ownership interests in dental businesses from anywhere in the world while continuing to pursue his passion for hunting without impairment," prosecutors said.

Mr. Rudolph's Miami-based lawyer responded Thursday, saying any fraud evidence should be barred and that a croc did indeed chomp his client back in 2006.



"Recognizing the 'circumstantial nature' of its case, the government seeks to introduce uncharged and unproven conjecture that Dr. Rudolph did not lose part of his thumb to a crocodile bite on safari 16 years ago but instead deliberately blasted it off with a shotgun," attorney David Markus said. "But the government's theory is simply not true — Dr. Rudolph did not shoot his own thumb off."

Mr. Markus asked the judge to bar the government request, saying that regardless of the facts, the entire incident has nothing to do with the murder case.

The government has indicated it will call two witnesses to prove Rudolph shot himself, Mr. Markus said.

The first, Clint Burton, is a hunter who guided Rudolph on the 2006 safari. Markus said Burton had consistently said through the years that a crocodile bit Rudolph. Lately, he's changed his story, but Markus said that's because of the "scandalous" media attention the case has generated.

The second witness is Jim Caruso, the Denver medical examiner, who examined photos of the injury and said a croc didn't do it.

But Markus said he has three witnesses who say otherwise. Further, he said Jay Young, the owner of a reptile park in Colorado, told the FBI that the injury was caused by a croc bite but that prosecutors chose to ignore him.

Mr. Markus also said any evidence that Rudolph shot off his thumb should be barred because it's an improper attempt by the government to show his "bad character" in carrying out insurance fraud schemes.

"The government’s argument here...is just a straight propensity argument: Whenever Dr. Rudolph commits insurance fraud, he goes to Africa to stage an accident," he said.

That kind of argument, he said, is inadmissible because it will prejudice the jury.

Rudolph, 67, is set to go on trial in July along with Ms. Milliron, the former office manager at his Greensburg practice. The FBI said Rudolph shot Bianca with a shotgun during a leopard hunt, then claimed she shot herself while packing her gun. Agents said he then collected nearly $5 million in insurance and he and Milliron moved in together at his Phoenix mansion.

Milliron is accused of lying to a federal grand jury in order to protect her boyfriend.

First Published May 26, 2022, 2:53pm

Fascinating!

An SCI BIG WIG in reality which is more than Hollywood would create!

I have never met Rudolph . Wouldn't know him if he was sitting across from my desk. Having said that, the story has circulated for years that the croc incident was staged and that no croc attack actually occurred.

Similarly, the story was circulating that he killed his wife long before he was charged.

Are they true? I have no clue. I imagine the trial will tell us a lot.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Fascinating!

An SCI BIG WIG in reality which is more than Hollywood would create!

I don't believe there is any lost love between Rudolph & SCI.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Fascinating!

An SCI BIG WIG in reality which is more than Hollywood would create!

I don't believe there is any lost love between Rudolph & SCI.

Sadly, Rudolph is an individual, and some individuals are crooks.

But SCI has made a habit of it.

We keep hoping things will change.

Haven’t seen it so far!

Might take generations!

We live in a country where folks are considered not guilty until proven guilty.........Not by an internet lynch mob..but maybe he will go to trial in Africa and that can be quite the opposite..

Nobody here knows what is going on in the investigation and if you to then you become a witness..