Criminal Justice
Executive Admits Faking Cancer to Avoid Securities Suit
Posted Mar 12, 2009, 10:45 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
An executive has admitted he pretended to be dying of colon cancer to avoid a lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Howard Richman, a former vice president at Biopure Corp., pleaded guilty yesterday to obstruction of justice for telling his lawyers to inform a judge in the case that he was gravely ill, according to the Associated Press and the Boston Globe. Prosecutors also said Richman posed as a physician in a phone call to lawyers and in a letter he provided with details of cancer treatment.
All three of Richman’s lawyers in the SEC case abruptly resigned in September 2007, according to AP. Three months later, Richman’s new criminal defense lawyer admitted his client had faked cancer.
Richman pleaded guilty yesterday in Boston federal court. The underlying SEC case contended Richman and three other executives misled investors about the probability of winning federal approval for a synthetic blood substitute.