Hair Regrowth Center Accused of Swindling Clients out of Thousands

Chicago - They say he assured them, his clients, that he could re-grow their hair. Out of desperation they say they paid him thousands upon thousands of dollars in the hope his promise was true.

FOX Chicago News has been investigating an accused con artist to find out how he's managed to stay in business in Chicago for at least five years, despite repeated lawsuits claiming he's a bald-faced liar.

His name is Steve Bennis.

Bennis advertises his hair clinic in several promotional videos on his web sites. In one, he talks about the lasers he uses for treatment. "It's the best laser machine in the market," Bennis said.

"It stimulates your hair," Bennis said in another video promoting the laser. "Your hair will grow back," he promised.

Bennis' web sites also feature some incredible testimonials, touting client contentment with Bennis.

"He was very honest," said one person to the camera.

"I mean, even Steve himself is living proof that (his system) works," said a third. Bennis has told his customers that he himself has also benefitted from his lasers and other products.

"If your hair doesn't grow back, we'll give you a 100 percent money back guarantee," Bennis said of the treatment in yet another promotional video.

But FOX Chicago discovered a class action lawsuit and several other suits alleging that Steve Bennis' claims were "false and misleading." FOX also found a consent order issued by the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation that demanded Bennis stop his "unlicensed practice of medicine." In addition, an Attorney General suit wants Steve Bennis to shut his business down because of "unfair and deceptive acts."

"There's no question he's committed fraud on numerous accounts," said attorney Robert Shelist. Shelist is representing at least two dozen clients who say they were duped by Steve Bennis.

"I was so desperate," said Matt Baldwin, a client of Shelist. Twenty-six year old Baldwin lost his hair after undergoing treatment for testicular cancer. "When all of a sudden you lose that, you lose a piece of you," Baldwin said. "It is very tough."

Baldwin said he tried both Propecia and Minoxidil, the only FDA-approved medicinal treatments for hair loss, but experienced unpleasant side effects.

"I was looking for a miracle cure," he explained.

That's when he says he came across Steve Bennis' ads touting an "all-natural" alternative for hair loss, and he went for a consultation.

"Bennis said, 'look, you have hairs here. Instead of one tiny weak hair, this could be three hairs'," Baldwin explained of his first meeting. "I was pretty optimistic."

Baldwin said he made Bennis aware of his bout with cancer.

Impressed with the consultation, Baldwin says he agreed to pay Bennis $9,000 for his services. "It was a ton of money," he said.

But that's not as much as Bennis charged another young man, who asked FOX Chicago not to use his name. He spent $12,500. "I made a one time payment," he said. "I actually had to sign up for the military," in order to get the money. "I signed up for six years," he continued. "There was a $20,000 sign up bonus, so I thought if I have this money, I can put it down and grow my hair back."

Both young men said Bennis told them that if they used his chemical-free products and laser light therapy for six months, they'd see results.

"He tried to tell me I was growing hair but it was pretty clear there was obviously nothing," Baldwin said.

"I felt miserable," the other young man admitted, when he concluded the treatment wasn't working.

Dr. Murad Alam is an associate professor of Dermatology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Northwestern University. "As a clinical intervention, I can't say I routinely advise people to use lasers," Alam said.

This hair loss specialist said the men should have asked several key questions.

"I would want to know that the particular laser being used is approved, that it grows a lot of hair, and that it's been used by someone who knows how to use it," Alam said.

The legal filings made against Steve Bennis and his laser, however, are none of those things.

"He was exploiting people's insecurities," said Faith Streng, one of Bennis' former receptionists.

"One woman was living with her parents because she had given her life savings of $12,000 to help re-grow her hair and it wasn't working for her," Streng said. "It got to a point where just morally I couldn't work for him anymore."

Yet despite all of the legal proceedings, Shelist said, "Mr. Bennis, being the unscrupulous business man he is, is trying to stay one step ahead in the game by continually changing the name of his business."

According to Shelist, the name of Bennis' business has changed from Natural Hair Growth Institute to Omega Hair Group to Quantum Hair Sciences to Chicago Hair Growth Centers to American Hair Growth Centers, with offices in Deerfield, Oakbrook, and downtown Chicago among other places.

A FOX Chicago producer went undercover for a consultation with Bennis in Chicago and learned yet