In mid-July, I received a very long string of emails, which appeared to be from the private email account of "Cryogirl," (close to 100 messages, I believe). Most of these were forwarded messages that had been exchanges between Cryogirl and some well-known cryonicists, (members of ACS, Alcor and CI). I verified the contents of the messages with three individuals, (two whose private emails to/from Cryogirl had been forwarded to me, and a third person who was not involved, but who was aware of the situation). All three of these people acknowledged the emails were genuine. (Since they have now identified themselves, I will note the Alcor member was Shannon Vyff and the CI member was CI's president, Ben Best. I think Ms. Vyff has been doing her best to attempt to rectify the situation, but I can't say the same for Mr. Best, who seems to care more about himself, than his organization.)
I believe the person who forwarded the emails wanted me to publish them, but I was reluctant to, for a number of reasons. My primary concern was the children, (not just the children of Cryogirl and/or her husband, but the children of others, involved in the situation), who could be embarrassed and hurt by the contents of those emails, for many years to come, should those emails be published on the Internet, (which, unfortunately, they have been, many times, now). I did not forward these emails, (or even excerpts from them), to ANYONE. I engaged in private communications, as mentioned in the paragraph above, and "went fishing" on Cold Filter, with no response. The bottom line is: At least one leader (Jim Yount) of the American Cryonics Society (ACS), has been involved in some seriously questionable behavior directly-related to cryonics/ACS' activities, and the other leader (Edgar Swank) has publicly engaged in activities potentially damaging to the cryonics organizations he is associated with.
Most of the exchanges were what I consider to be cybersex between consenting adults, and are of no concern to me. There were some seriously disturbing accusations, regarding Cryogirl, her stepson, and a younger, autistic child. I won't go into the details, as I have been assured those activities have been reported to the proper authorities. Supposedly, other illegal activities, such as alleged software piracy engaged in by someone at ACS, have also been reported to the authorities.
The most damning information, related to cryonics, are the emails between Cryogirl and Jim Yount, of the American Cryonics Society (ACS). As I've already written, I couldn't care less what consenting adults do, when it comes to sex, but Mr. Yount crossed the line, when he paid Cryogirl funds from the coffers of a California non-profit organization. I'm quite sure he will claim to have been paying Cryogirl for some sort of marketing, in regard to the ACS money she received, and that the other funds he gave her were from his personal bank account, (in fact, Ben Best already provided this excuse, for Mr. Yount). My answer to that is, no reputable business, related to futuristic medical science, would have been found advertising on Cryogirl's MySpace page. (Note: Recent attempts to view Cryogirl's Myspace page, (which was, previously, easily accessible), resulted in warnings of security issues, so I have removed the link.)
The payments from ACS do not indicate they were for business-related services, but instead have labels such as "a spoonful of sugar." (I have screenshots of the actual PayPal transactions, if the State of California is interested). Judging by Cryogirl's MySpace page, or her Twitter page, (which has now been deleted, but was archived), I don't think anyone would believe marketing services from Cryogirl was a reasonable expenditure, for a non-profit organization. Her sites were not of the sort, on which companies said to be engaging in futuristic medical science-related research would advertise. More likely, Mr. Yount was interested in continuing his communications with Cryogirl, conversations that included discussions of the sexual activities of Cryogirl's 16-year-old sister, and nude photos of young women. While I think it's rather clear Mr. Yount was using money, and his position of power, at ACS, to influence Cryogirl's sexual communications, it's also quite clear that she was using him, and probably violating the conditions of the governmental support she receives, (allegedly for a psychological disability that the people taking advantage of her were said to have been aware of), by accepting money from him. (Our tax dollars at work.)
Cryogirl's husband claims Mr. Yount helped Cryogirl avoid questioning by the police, by funding her departure from her home state. A high-ranking person, in cryonics, admits he believes Mr. Yount provided Cryogirl the financial means for leaving her home, with the sole purpose of "shacking up with her for a few weeks." Cryogirl is an attractive young woman, and Mr. Yount is a man in his mid-to-late 60's, who, (judging from his emails), likes to engage in adolescent games, such as pretending to have an evil twin, who lives on Mars. (I don't know what the policy is on Mars, Mr. Yount, but here on Earth, we step down from positions of power, when we have embarrassed our entire professional community.)
ACS seems to serve no purpose, other than to pad the pockets and bolster the egos of two narcissistic old fools. They don't provide their own services, but act as a "middleman" for CI, adding to the cost of CI's services. It's time for the CI Board of Directors to take action, in severing ties with ACS. (No appeal, to Ben Best, as I am weary of his lame excuses.)
(Interestingly, "Cryogirl" can now be heard, on numerous Internet audiotapes, claiming she can "bring down" all of cryonics. She seems to be pretending to be some sort of super-spy, digging up dirt on the leaders of cryonics activities, yet some of them are said to still be funding her living quarters and expenses, in California, including a $1,300 a month apartment, (while she allegedly still collects social security income). This is what the decisions of people like Yount, Swank and Best have brought to the cryonics community. According to Cryogirl's husband, these men KNEW, through his warnings, that this young woman had psychological problems, yet they allowed her to cloud their judgment in running their organizations. The question is: "Is anyone going to do something about this, (other than try to "sweep it under the rug")???
Recommendation and review posted by G. Smith
