Andrew Witkoff Death:- On Thursday, investors fired One80 Center’s CEO and clinical director after The Hollywood Reporter exposed its care practices.
The parents of deceased client Andrew Witkoff have sued the rehab. The Sunset Plaza Drive sober living home closed two years ago, and he died of an OxyContin overdose at 22.
Steven Witkoff, a wealthy Manhattan real estate mogul who owns the Woolworth Building, and his wife, Lauren, accuse One80 of wrongful death, negligence, and fraud.
They also name terminated CEO Alex Shohet, his wife, former clinical director Bernadine Fried, and Justin Carroll, a rehab center co-founder who left in July.
THR obtained the August 9 Los Angeles Superior Court complaint, which accuses the facility of allowing Witkoff to leave its facilities unattended, skip urine tests, and buy illegal drugs online while in residence. “The reality is that inappropriate levels of freedom, and lackadaisical and inadequate supervision, was and is provided to clients,” the complaint stated.
The Witkoffs also claim their son’s $1,000-a-day sober companion was untrained and did not supervise him outside. The person “had no formal training in the field of substance abuse counseling and treatment, and was given little if any on-the-job training prior to being assigned.” (The recovering alcoholic companion had driven One80 clients to treatment appointments.)
New York attorney Robert Gold says the Witkoffs don’t care about money, but they want unspecified punitive damages. “Their only interest in pursuing this lawsuit,” he says, “is to prevent other families from suffering the loss of loved ones battling addiction at the hands of people in positions of power in the recovery industry who demonstrate an unconscionable disregard for their clients’ best interest.”
Shohet, Fried, and interim One80 CEO Edward Kislinger, the company’s lead investor who led the coup last week, did not respond to requests for comment. Carroll was unavailable. The family of Jean Galletta, the other on-site fatality in the Aug. 7 investigative story, is also considering legal action, THR reports. Since the article, the LAPD has investigated both deaths.