Phony doctor's bail set at $33 million

NEW YORK, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- A New York man accused of pretending to be a doctor and sexually abusing patients has been ordered held on $33 million bail, prosecutors said.

Court officials said it was the highest bail they could remember, The New York Post reported Monday.

Michail Sorodosky, 62, of Brooklyn, is charged with practicing without a license at least since 1995 and with sexually abusing at least eight female patients while they were under anesthesia, state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said.

Sorodosky initially was charged last year and his bail set at $500,000 if he agreed to wear a monitoring bracelet. Since then, the bracelet was tampered with several times and prosecutors opened a second case involving additional victims, Cuomo's office said.