NEW YORK, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- A New York City man faces trial for allegedly molesting and raping sedated women who came to him for holistic cancer treatments, officials said.
Michail Sorodsky, 63, of the borough of Brooklyn, is in custody on $11 million cash bail, the highest in New York State history.
Jury selection will begin in Brooklyn Supreme Court this week for the trial in which Sorodsky will face 102 counts ranging from fraud to rape, the New York Daily News reported Monday.
Authorities allege Sorodsky treated his victims with a probiotic yogurt, inserting the concoction into their genitalia, telling them they would be healed.
Prosecutors allege he sexually molested patients and even raped at least one sedated patient among the hundreds of people -- mainly Russian immigrants in Brooklyn -- who paid as much as $1,000 per visit.
Sorodsky's defense is expected to argue he never represented himself as a doctor, but as a holistic healer -- which requires no license -- and that patients returned voluntarily even after allegedly being abused.
Prosecutors refute this, saying Sorodsky instructed clients to stay away from mainstream medicine, the Daily News reported.
