Ricardo Asch


Ricardo Hector Asch is an obstetrician, gynecologist, endocrinologist, and fugitive. He worked with reproductive technology and pioneered gamete intrafallopian transfer. In the mid-1990s, he was accused of removing ova from women without their consent for use on other patients, as well as associated financial crimes, at the University of California, Irvine's fertility clinic: The Orange County Register's investigations into these practices led to that paper's receiving the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting. Prior to being federally indicted, Asch fled the United States. Multiple attempts by American officials to extradite him from Latin America have failed. Asch was last reported as living in Mexico in 2011.

Education and early career

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Asch studied at the University of Buenos Aires School of Medicine graduating in 1971. In 1975 he moved to the United States and worked with Robert Benjamin Greenblatt at the Medical College of Georgia before his reproductive endocrinology fellowship at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Among his many publications were his pioneering experience with GIFT and research on oocyte donation. In 1986 he joined the University of California, Irvine. In 1990 he became the Director of the Center for Reproductive Health of UCI heading the infertility program. Asch was named Assistant Dean of UCI the same year. He lectured worldwide and accrued two honorary professorships by 1994.

UC Irvine fertility scandal

In 1995, the Orange County Register broke the story that Asch—then Chief of the University of California, Irvine's Center for Reproductive Health—and his two partners were accused of taking women's eggs without their permission for use by other patients. These eggs were fertilized and the resulting embryos transferred to these other women, some of them then conceiving. At least 15 live births resulted from the alleged practice. At that time, the misappropriation of human eggs was not legally considered a crime. However, numerous civil lawsuits were filed, and UCI paid out more than $27 million to settle patient claims. Auditors from KPMG Peat Marwick investigated the clinic and found that almost $1 million was privately pocketed.
In 2006, university officials admitted to the Los Angeles Times that they had not notified at least 20 women whose eggs were stolen by Asch and his colleagues.

Aftermath

Asch and colleagues Jose Balmaceda and Sergio Stone were indicted on charges of mail fraud and income tax evasion. Asch suspended his practice, sold his properties, and fled to Mexico. Balmaceda escaped to Chile, while Stone stayed in the US and was convicted of insurance fraud in 1997 and paid a fine. In January 1996, Asch testified at a deposition in Tijuana that university employees were responsible for errors that had occurred such as mismatching patients and failing to obtain patient consents.
Asch later opened a practice in Mexico and later in Argentina. He was formally fired by the university in 2000. He attained a Mexican citizenship in 2001 in addition to his native Argentine citizenship.

Extradition efforts and capture

In 2004 Asch was arrested in Argentina, but an extradition request was denied. Asch's lawyer claims that he was tried in Argentina for fraud and acquitted.
Asch was arrested again in Mexico in November 2010. On December 30, 2010, the Mexican Attorney's General Office announced on its website that it had initiated proceedings to have Asch extradited to the United States. However, Asch was released on bail in early 2011. Subsequently, the judge ruled that as Asch had already been tried in Argentina and acquitted, the "double jeopardy" rule applied, thus Asch was free and would not be extradited to the United States.

Awards and other activities

Asch, who owned an entertainment company at the time of the scandal, was one of the producers of the Andre Agassi and Nick Bollettieri instructional tennis video Attack.