Thanks to Novartis, the investigations of President Trump and his minions now have a Big Pharma angle: The drug maker admitted to wiring monthly payments to a company controlled by the president’s lawyer — the same one that paid adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about an extramarital affair with Trump.
But in exchange for what? And who thought this was a good idea?
What was on Novartis mind to get involved with this crook?
Makes me wonder about using any of their products!
The CEO alone can’t just write a monthly $100K check. The contract must have been reviewed by Novartis compliance lawyers who would protect the company by ensuring that the arrangement complied with Novartis’ corporate integrity agreement and would prohibit bribes, kickbacks, lobbying, and ensure that Novartis received value for dollar. This is not just a CEO’s handiwork. There must be a certain subtlety in the fine art of drug development, manufacturing and sales that I don’t appreciate. In principle, there is nothing Novartis should be concerned about, right?
Your assumptions are incorrect. Levels of corporate approval are ALWAYS based on dollar amounts. Clearly, the Novartis level that triggered Legal clearance was 100k, since all the payments were just under that threshold. Also, Auditors generally use 100k as a threshold for Sarbanes-Oxley (“SOX”) compliance. Jimenez knew it was shady, and also knew how to keep it buried.
There seems to be a pattern here in light of Novartis’ troubles about bribes in Greece and kickbacks in China. See:
https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma-asia/novartis-still-embroiled-greek-probe-faces-kickback-allegation-china-again
Fascinating. How many employers do you know who give you a 12 month employment contract and then, months later, conduct the job interview and decide they don’t want your services, but you can keep the money?
Or,,,was this a campaign contribution???
What did Novartis get? Well, after just FOUR payments of $99,980 – an amount obviously designed to stay below a SOX reporting threshold – Jimenez got a personal meeting with Trump in Geneva. That meeting is a matter of public record. Ask Jimenez what they talked about, if he is not already lawyered up… and ask Novartis for all of Jimenez’ emails for the six weeks thereafter. If they are really being transparent, they will provide. If not, it’s a cover-up.