Arthrocare Unit Keeps Troubling Company

Based on court documents, Palm Beach Lakes employees -- including one identified as Steinger's brother-in-law, Marc Nathanson -- helped Izydore escape without being served. TheStreet.com tried to reach Izydore and Nathanson last month. The surgery center originally offered to check and see if they were available but, upon learning that a reporter was calling, denied that the men even worked there.

Of course, these days, Izydore may want a low profile. In mid-1997, The Austin-American Statesman reported, a federal judge sentenced Izydore to five years in prison for looting a bankrupt Texas company that he had promised to rescue instead. Before that, the newspaper stated, Izydore "had a long history of questionable deals in South Florida."

After serving time in federal prison, which offers no parole, Izydore apparently returned to Florida in search of a new opportunity.

For its part, Arthrocare has never hinted at any reason for alarm. Rather, Arthrocare has expressed strong confidence in DiscoCare -- and the people behind it -- all along.

"The people who were on the other side of this transaction really and truly are not the kind of people who would do something like that," Baker promised investors who were concerned about milder rumors early this year. "One of the sad things about this whole exercise has been that some of these people have basically been slandered ... It really is a shame."

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