Rhode Island fugitive posed as biotech CMO for two decades

Federal agents boarded a 56-foot sailboat called The Silver Lining on July 16, 2026, off the New York–New Jersey coast. At the helm stood “Dr. Richard Graydon,” reportedly a Stanford-trained oncologist with a résumé listing Merck, Johnson & Johnson, and regulatory submissions for blockbuster cancer drugs. His actual name: Ronald L. Fischer, 70, one of Rhode Island’s most-wanted fugitives, convicted in absentia of first-degree sexual assault and on the run for more than 20 years, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island.

From Most Wanted to Medical Chief

Fischer allegedly built a biotech persona so convincing that two companies handed him senior clinical leadership roles. The alias construction was meticulous. In 2017, “Richard Graydon” self-published a book on cancer genetics - zero Amazon reviews - presenting himself as a former chief medical officer. By October 2022, Seattle-based Atossa Therapeutics hired him as interim CMO, praising his purported experience in CAR-T cell therapy, a cutting-edge treatment that engineers a patient’s own immune cells to attack tumors.

In March 2026, California-based Immix Biopharma described him as a board-certified hematologist-oncologist who had led US regulatory submissions for Keytruda and Darzalex - among the world’s top-selling cancer medicines - along with other major drugs, according to the Boston Globe. Stat News reported it could not verify the claimed Stanford MD/PhD or Harvard residency. Immix did not respond to verification requests.

These are the same drugs prescribed to cancer patients across the country - overseen, allegedly, by a man holding more than a dozen aliases and an active federal warrant.

Fischer’s criminal history stretches back decades:

• In the mid-1990s, he was charged in Massachusetts with raping a nursing student aboard one of his yachts, ultimately pleading guilty to assault and battery. His medical licenses were revoked.
• A 2003 Rhode Island charge followed - rape aboard his yacht, Lion King, docked in Portsmouth.
• During his 2005 trial, days before closing arguments, Fischer emailed his lawyer a goodbye note, writing that he saw “a small but unacceptable risk of conviction” and had long planned to live safely overseas, according to the Boston Globe.

He was convicted in absentia and later featured on America’s Most Wanted. An online sleuth reportedly helped authorities track his vessel registration under his alias - the kind of crowdsourced detective work that has become its own genre, from Reddit cold-case threads to TikTok true crime.

The Compliance Question No One Wants to Answer

Immix Biopharma’s SEC filing raises more questions than it settles about the vetting process that let Fischer through.

Immix told the SEC that Graydon’s employment was terminated July 17 “for reasons unrelated to his activities at the Company” and that management believed there was “no material effect on the business.” What the filing does not address: how a man carrying a federal warrant, revoked medical licenses, and fabricated credentials cleared whatever vetting process Immix and Atossa had in place. That question now belongs to compliance professionals and biotech boards everywhere.

The biotech industry stakes its credibility on rigorous data and peer review. If a hiring process cannot catch what America’s Most Wanted already broadcast to millions, the credentialing gap is bigger than one man sailing under a fake name.