GSK Call In the Fireman

I've recently finished reading, for the second time, John Grisham's excellent, 'The King of Torts', a novel that highlights underhand tactics used by the pharmaceutical industry. 

In 'Torts' we are introduced to a character who goes by many names. To keep this simple I'll just be referring to him as 'Max Pace.' Pace is hired by pharmaceutical companies to douse the flames when it arises that a drug that has been on the market has serious and life-threatening side effects. The information is purposely leaked by the pharmaceutical companies via Max Pace whose job it is to target prosecuting attorneys in the hopes of a quick and cheap settlement. Pace describes himself as a fireman, someone whose job it is to 'put out the fire.'

The character reminded me a great deal of Peter Humphrey, the outsider who was brought in by GSK China to douse the flames of a whistleblower who, at the time, was threatening to spill the beans on GSK China's illegal activities which included, but weren't limited to:

• Bribing Mark Reily, GSK's head of China Operations, in the form of 'sexual relations' in return for maximizing business for China Comfort Travel (“CCT”). - CCT was an important part of the GSK bribery and promotion scheme because it facilitated a money laundering operation in connection with the bribing of hospitals and doctors who prescribe GSK drugs to patients. 

• Funneling 3 billion yuan (US$482 million) through this network to recipients. Receipts were forged for purchases and transactions that never took place, including fake conferences.

• Bribing doctors and other medical staff were to sell GSK products, the cost of those bribes was added to the price of the products that consumers paid for.

Enter the fray Peter Humphrey and his wife Yu Yingzeng who were hired by GSK China to investigate a whistleblower whom they believed was behind a series of emails sent to the company big-wigs, including the then CEO of GSK UK, Andrew Witty. Humphrey and Yu operated ChinaWhys, an International Business Risk Advisory Firm.

Humphrey and Yu were told by GSK China that they believed Vivian Shi, then the company’s government relations head in China, was the whistleblower but they needed proof. The allegations made by the anonymous whistleblower did not concern them.

In a nutshell, it was the job of Humphrey and Yu to create a report on Shi to frame her as a vindictive former employee.

The Sex Tape

Whilst in talks with GSK China, Humphrey, and his wife learned of a sex tape that the anonymous whistleblower had sent in via an email attachment. The sex tape showed Mark Reily and an unnamed woman and was sent to GSK executives along with the corruption allegations. A further 23 emails were sent to Chinese governmental entities throughout China.

GSK told Humphrey and his wife that the allegations had previously been investigated and were false.

According to a court document, during an April 15, 2013, meeting, Humphrey asked GSK officials for copies of the anonymous whistleblower allegations, but GSK refused to provide them. Instead, the document claims, GSK officials stressed that GSK had improved its compliance mechanisms following earlier corruption and other illegal activities that led a DOJ settlement in 2012 ($3 Billion to resolve fraud allegations and failure to report safety data)

The court document. PETER HUMPHREY; YU YINGZENG; CHINAWHYS COMPANY LTD Vs GLAXOSMITHKLINE PLC; GLAXOSMITHKLINE LLC, was filed in United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on 1st January 2018.

More on this 'appeal' later.

In essence, GSK was playing down the allegations, even though they knew them to be true, and using Humphrey and Yu into advancing GSK’s efforts to conceal its bribery activities.

The court document, which I have a copy of, also states:

On June 26, 2013, a GSK employee finally sent two of the whistleblower emails to Humphrey while he was in the United States.

Over the next two days, police raided multiple GSK China offices. Following those raids, GSK senior legal counsel Jennifer Huang asked ChinaWhys to investigate the Public Security Bureau (PSB) and to “prepare an Organic analysis ASAP on the Chinese political regime, particularly on Chinese Communist Party Regime, PSB, and state council with official’s name identified.” 

Humphrey and Huang had a phone call that same day, while Humphrey and Yu were in the United States. Huang said she wanted to investigate the PSB “to find out who’s who in the investigation.” At that point, Humphrey became concerned that GSK was seeking now to obstruct the investigation by Chinese authorities and replied that he could not do anything that could be deemed as violating state secrets and thus could only use public information for his research.

On July 1, while Humphrey and Yu were still in the United States, GSK China’s head of business development, Leslie Chang, asked Humphrey to investigate various government organs. Humphrey refused. Then, after returning to China, Humphrey met again with Mark Reilly (the head of GSK China) in a hotel room as Reilly was preparing to flee the country. At that time, Humphrey advised Reilly that ChinaWhys could no longer provide service to GSK. 

On July 10, 2013, ChinaWhys was raided by the police who told Humphrey, “This was ordered from above. This is related to GSK.”

Around the same time, four senior GSK China executives were also arrested.  In response to those arrests, GSK’s global CEO, Sir Andrew Witty, claimed that GSK’s head office in London lacked knowledge of the whistleblower’s allegations and “had no sense of this issue.” This, according to the court document, was untrue.

Humphrey and Yu were arrested for illegally buying and selling private information and detained for almost a year before their trial. During this year of detention and whilst awaiting trial, GSK stated that its China business “hired ChinaWhys in April 2013 to conduct an investigation following a serious breach of privacy and security” (the Reilly sex tape) but that ChinaWhys was “not hired to investigate the substance of the allegations of misconduct made by the whistleblower.” This, according to the 2018 court document, was a misleading statement by GSK and prolonged Humphrey and Yu’s incarceration because British diplomats attempting to intervene on Humphrey and Yu’s behalf did not have accurate information about what had led to their arrest.

One British official involved in those efforts to intervene on behalf of Yu and Humphrey claimed,“GSK were really cagey. They just kept saying it was routine work and kept the information deliberately vague. When we went to the Chinese we were arguing with one hand tied behind our backs.”

On September 19, 2014,  GSK PLC issued a Statement of Apology to the People of China in which it announced that “GSK China Investment Co. Ltd (GSKCI) has been identified according to Chinese law to have offered money or property to non-government personnel in order to obtain improper commercial gains, and has been found guilty of bribing non-government personnel.” GSK was fined $492 million for its bribery activities in China in the biggest such penalty ever imposed by a Chinese
court. The then GSK CEO, Andrew Witty, stated that “Reaching a conclusion in the investigation of our Chinese business is important, but this has been a deeply disappointing matter for GSK.” In addition, Mark Reilly, the head of GSK China, was convicted for his part in the bribery scheme. He was sentenced to three years prison with a four-year reprieve and ordered deported, meaning he will never serve his sentence.

Humphrey and Yu. however, were treated less favorably. In August 2013 they were both convicted and imprisoned in China under harsh conditions for almost two years in squalid conditions and crowded jail cells. They were both denied urgent medical attention and were separated from each other  Humphrey developed prostate cancer, for which he did not receive proper treatment and as a result, the cancer became life-threatening.

In June 2015, the couple was released from prison.

Humphrey watched the TV coverage of the GSK trial from his Shanghai prison cell. He was shocked by the contrast between his punishment and theirs.

"Suspended jail sentences for three or four of the main culprits when I and my wife had been sentenced to years in prison," he says, adding, "Someone asked me recently why someone like Mark Reilly (GSK China's boss) could be set free and we were in jail. I think it's very simple, we don't have half a billion dollars. That story was about money from the beginning. Money got them into trouble and money got him out."

In November 2016, Humphrey and his wife filed suit against GSK where they sort to seek damages from GSK relating to the loss of their business (ChinaWhys), compensation for the emotional and physical harm and damage to their reputation.

Almost one year later, U.S. District Judge Nitza Quinones Alejandro, threw out the case claiming that a U.S. Supreme Court ruling barred lawsuits filed under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) over injuries that occur entirely outside the United States such as this one involving incidents in China.

“For this reason", he said, "Plaintiffs lack standing to assert civil RICO claims, and these claims are dismissed."

Undeterred, Humphrey and Yu have now appealed this decision, hence the Jan 1, 2018, filing. They are requesting that the United States Court of Appeals reverses the order of the District Court dismissing the Complaint for failure to plead a “domestic injury”.

I covered the Chinagate scandal in great depth when news broke back in 2013. A chronological list of the blogs can be seen below. To date, it's some of the most rewarding research and reporting I've ever done on this old blog of mine.

Remarkably, GSK re-hired the services of Vivian Shi, whom they thought was the whistleblower. Reily, according to MalayMail Online, became part of GSK's senior executive team in London


Bob Fiddaman

BACK STORIES:

Glaxo - The Sex Tape Scandal

GSK's Mark Reilly Accused of Running a "massive bribery network"

I'm Just a Blogger - Here's GSK Served on Prawn Crackers

GSK Hiked Product Prices to Fund Bribery Scam

GSK's Sales Reps Want Their Money Back

GSK's Private Investigator [The Video]

Peter Humphrey's 2012 Presentation - Pharma Bribery

GSK's Chinese Whispers and David Cameron

“GSK were really cagey", Claims Whitehall Official.

Glaxo Hire Ropes & Gray to Delve Into its Chinese Operations.

GSK CHINA - Bribery was Rife 13 Years Ago

Witty Plays Down China Scandal

Witty Witty Bang Wang. The Glaxo Gangbang...Allegedly

Book Your Holidays With GSK Travel

Andrew Witty... I know narrrrrrrrthing

Glaxo's Private Investigator Arrested

葛兰素史克公司 腐败 For Researching Chinagate

Andrew Witty... I know narrrrrrrrthing - Part II

Hammer to Fall on GSK's Chinese Executives

Cronyism, Chinese Style

Will Cameron Call off the GSK Hounds?

GSK's Mark Reilly Accused of Running a "massive bribery network"

I'm Just a Blogger - Here's GSK Served on Prawn Crackers

GSK Hiked Product Prices to Fund Bribery Scam

GSK's Sales Reps Want Their Money Back

Glaxo - The Sex Tape Scandal

GSK's Private Investigator [The Video]

Peter Humphrey's 2012 Presentation - Pharma Bribery

GSK's Chinese Whispers and David Cameron

"GSK were really cagey", Claims Whitehall Official

Glaxo Hire Ropes & Gray to Delve Into its Chinese Operations

GSK CHINA - Bribery was Rife 13 Years Ago

GSK's Hired Detectives - Day One, As It Happened

So, What Do You Think, Mr Harvey Humphrey?

GSK Plead Guilty For Being "Very Decent"

Glaxo's PI Released From Prison

The Penny Drops for GSK's Private Investigator

GSK's Mark Reilly and the Word, 'Opaque'

Glaxo and Former Whistleblower Suspect Reunite

GSK China Bought Patient’s Silence for $9,000

Lawsuit Alleges GSK's Witty Lied to the Media - Part I

ChinaWhys Vs GSK - The Claims - Part 2

More Woes for GSK as Peter Humphrey Files Suit

More Woes for GSK as Peter Humphrey Files Suit

GlaxoSmithKline are rarely out of the news. Regular readers will know that I'm covering the wrongful death lawsuit in Chicago, Dolin Vs GSK. Now, it appears the whole squalid 'Chinagate' scandal has, once again, reared its ugly head as Peter Humphrey, who was incarcerated in a Chinese prison, along with his wife, has filed suit against GSK claiming federal racketeering and conspiracy claims under RICO, as well as state law claims for fraud, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and civil conspiracy.

Glaxo wouldn't be Glaxo if they admitted to any wrong-doing so, in spectacular fashion, they are disputing the complaint, citing that Humphrey should go back to China to arbitrate these claims.

The suit, filed in the United States District Court of Pennsylvania, argues that the case does not have to be filed in China because...

 - Defendants are part of the GSK Group, which holds itself out as an integrated “global healthcare company.” 

 - Directors of GlaxoSmithKline plc manage the risks of the Group at a group level, rather than at an individual business unit level.

 - GSK’s General Counsel, Dan Troy is based in the United States.

GSK’s General Counsel, Dan Troy, is based in the United States and manages the companies 400 lawyers based in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, North Carolina, Belgium and the UK. As discussed further below, Troy “played an active role” in forming GSK’s response to the whistleblower’s revelations of corruption in China.

For those who don't know, Troy is the former Chief Counsel for the FDA. During his time at the FDA he ordered that all decisions to take action against false prescription advertising go through his office -- after which the enforcement actions mysteriously dropped by two-thirds. He also got to work revising the agency's regulations to allow drugmakers to promote drugs for uses not yet supported by clinical research.

Quite a revolving door and Troy is a subject I will be covering soon on this blog.

Meantime, Humphrey's lawsuit intends to highlight, once again, how GSK attempted to bribe doctors around the world by various means in order to increase the sale of their drugs. This, despite  settling a multi-billion dollar settlement agreement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2012.

GSK’s China-based bribery and illegal promotional activities extended to at least June 2013.

More coming soon.

Bob Fiddaman.

More on Peter Humphrey and the Chinagate scandal here.

ChinaWhys Vs GSK - The Claims - Part 2

Following on from the first parter, Lawsuit Alleges GSK's Witty Lied to the Media - Part I, today sees part 2 (The claims of ChinaWhys against GSK) - Part 3 (Coming later this week) will focus on the incarceration of Peter Humphrey and his wife, Yu Yinzeng and also the rehiring of accused whistleblower, Vivian Shi)

Here is what Peter Humphrey and his wife, Yu Yinzeng, of ChinaWhys, are alleging...


 - Between 2010-2013 GSK spent nearly $225 million on planning and travel services. Approx 44% of the sampled invoices were inflated and approximately 12% were for events that did not occur.

 - GSK set up a special "crisis management" team in order to bribe Chinese regulators with money and gifts. A GSK executive attempted to bribe a Chinese investigator with an IPad and a lavish dinner. All bribes were approved by the head of Chinese operations, Mark Reilly.

 - GSK planned to suppress evidence of its illegal bribery activities.

 - As far back as 2008, GSK China deliberately falsified its books and records in order to conceal its illegal practices in China. These included, bribery and promotion of drugs for purposes that have not been approved by the Chinese authorities.

 - GSK paid a patient RMB 50,000, who nearly died after being given Lamictal off-label. Despite having knowledge of Lamictal causing near death in this patient, GSK still told its reps to promote the use of Lamictal for off-label purposes.

 - GSK targeted 'persuasive doctors' in attempts to influence purchasing decisions at their hospitals. GSK are to said to have forged a connection with these doctors by taking them to expensive lunches and dinners and also giving them gifts and cash.

 - GSK paid between 500 and 1,000 doctors to go on an all-expenses paid holiday to locations such as Brazil, India, Israel, Greece, Japan and Hungary. GSK covered all costs, including cash to cover meals and sight-seeing excursions. These were disguised by GSK as "Conference trips."

 - Head of Chinese operations, Mark Reilly, received a bribe in the form of 'sexual relations' in return for passing business on to China Comfort Travel, a travel agency who organised 'conference sevices' for GSK.

 - GSK paid doctors based on their prescription numbers.

 - GSK's senior legal counsel, Jennifer Huang, asked private investigator, Peter Humphrey, to investigate the Public Security Bureau and to prepare an analysis of the Chinese political regime. Huang told Humphrey that she wanted to find out who's who regarding the team who were investigating GSK.

 - Humphrey became concerned that GSK were trying to obstruct the investigation and declined to investigate state secrets.

 - Humphrey was also asked, by GSK, to look into the Ministry of Public Security, the Economic Crimes Investigation Department regarding the relationship between them and  the Public Security Bureau. Humphrey, once again, declined.

 - Head of Chinese operations, Mark Reilly, told Humphrey that the alleged whistleblower, Vivian Shi was "coming after him." (Humphrey).  Reilly then fled China the following day.

 - GSK China told its employees to "destroy all non-compliant promotional materials and gifts." They also implemented a new email system and deleted emails that were more than a year old. They claimed this was to "reduce unnecessarily legal costs."

--

Bob Fiddaman.

Back Stories from the Fiddaman Blog

Glaxo - The Sex Tape Scandal

GSK's Mark Reilly Accused of Running a "massive bribery network"

I'm Just a Blogger - Here's GSK Served on Prawn Crackers

GSK Hiked Product Prices to Fund Bribery Scam

GSK's Sales Reps Want Their Money Back

GSK's Private Investigator [The Video]

Peter Humphrey's 2012 Presentation - Pharma Bribery

GSK's Chinese Whispers and David Cameron

“GSK were really cagey", Claims Whitehall Official.

Glaxo Hire Ropes & Gray to Delve Into its Chinese Operations.

GSK CHINA - Bribery was Rife 13 Years Ago

Witty Plays Down China Scandal

Witty Witty Bang Wang. The Glaxo Gangbang...Allegedly

Book Your Holidays With GSK Travel

Andrew Witty... I know narrrrrrrrthing

The Penny Drops for GSK's Private Investigator.

GSK China Bought Patient’s Silence for $9,000

Lawsuit Alleges GSK's Witty Lied to the Media - Part I

Lawsuit Alleges GSK's Witty Lied to the Media - Part I

Lawsuit Alleges GSK's Witty Lied to the Media - Part I  

~ Bob Fiddaman

A 42 page complaint was filed on November 15, 2016, by Peter Humphrey and his wife, Yu Yingzeng, in relation to GSK's nefarious activities in China which saw the pair incarcerated for around 2 years in Chinese slum-like conditions prison cells.

The complaint delves deep into the whole sordid affair and alleges bribery on a huge scale, more importantly, the complaint alleges that GSK hired the services of Humphrey and Yu in efforts to smokescreen the corruption in China, corruption, according to the complaint, that they had known about for many years. Furthermore, the 42 page document alleges that GSK's CEO, Andrew Witty, lied to the media when he was asked about the corruption in China.

Humphrey and Yingzeng were the founders of ChinaWhys, a professional-services consultancy that specializes in discreet risk mitigation solutions, consulting and investigation services to corporate clients in matters of high sensitivity across Greater China and the Asia Pacific.

On April 15, 2013, Humphrey met with GSK's Head of Chinese operations, Mark Reilly, April Zhao, GSK China legal counsel and Brian Cahill, also GSK legal counsel. It was at this meeting that Humphrey was told that GSK had been sent a series of emails from a whistleblower alleging widespread corruption - GSK told Humphrey that they believed they knew who the whistleblower was.

Vivian Shi had previously worked for GSK as a government affairs director, GSK had terminated her services with them in December 2012. According to the complaint GSK claimed that Shi had orchestrated a "smear campaign" against GSK involving a total of 23 emails that had been sent to Chinese officials throughout the country, a letter had also been sent to GSK's 'top management' alleging widespread corruption in GSK's pharmaceutical and vaccine business that had been approved by GSK China's senior management.

These were allegations brought to Humphreys attention just months after GSK had been fined a record breaking $3 billion by the Department of Justice in America - the fine was handed down after a guilty plea by GSK who, after the settlement, entered into a five-year Corporate Integrity Agreement with the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services. The agreement requires enhanced accountability, increased transparency and wide- ranging monitoring activities conducted by both internal and independent external reviewers.

One month after meeting with GSK officials Humphrey was told that GSK's global CEO, Andrew Witty, had been made aware that GSK had been using a travel agent to channel kickback to customers and doctors throughout China. Days after Witty had been made aware, the whistleblower also sent a video to him and other senior management that showed GSK China's Mark Reilly engaged in sexual activity - Reilly later claimed that the woman in the video was his "regular girlfriend".

GSK officials told Humphrey that they had launched their own internal inquiry regarding the whistleblower allegation and that they were false. They told Humphrey, "There is nothing there". This, according to the complaint, was a lie.

Humphrey and his wife offered to investigate the whistleblower allegations but GSK declined the offer, opting instead for Humphrey to investigate Vivian Shi, the woman they believed was the whistleblower.

Two months after Humphrey and Yu started their background search of Vivian Shi, GSK received another letter from the whistleblower alleging that GSK China continues to engage in systematic bribery of doctors, this email focused on GSK China's botox business whereby the whistleblower claimed that...

GSK had a 'pay to prescribe' scheme that funneled money through a central source at Beijing Medical College whereby 'lecture fee payments' were made to doctors who could "...incentivize and reward doctors for prescribing Botox."

At no point did GSK show either Humphrey or Yu this letter.

On June 12, 2013, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) ran an article highlighting GSK China's massive bribery network. In July of that year 4 senior GSK China executives were arrested and, according to Humphrey's filed complaint, GSK CEO, Andrew Witty told the worlds media that "...it appears that certain senior executives in the Chinese business have acted outside of our processes and our controls to both defraud the company and Chinese healthcare system." Witty also claimed that GSK's Head office in London lacked knowledge of the whistleblower allegations and "had no sense of this issue."

According to the complaint, this made no sense as since the previous month GSK did, indeed, "have a sense" of the issue since it announced its 4 month internal investigation into allegations of bribery and corruption in China and found "No evidence of corruption or bribery."

The complaint states...

Witty argued, nonsensically, that the previous whistleblower allegations were "quite different" from the more recent charges, saying, "they are two completely different sets of issues, we fully investigated the first and, of course, this has now surfaced in the last couple of weeks."

This was a lie, since "what surfaced" in the PSB investigation and raids of GSK offices in July was precisely the illegal activity that the whistleblower had documented and threatened to reveal in January.

The complaint was filed in The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Humphrey and Yu are represented by Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP



**Coming in Part 2**
 - A full and comprehensive list of the allegations made by Peter Humphrey and Yu.
 - GSK ask Humphrey to 'overtly' obstruct the Chinese government investigation.
 - Evidence, including emails, to be destroyed as not to implicate any wrong-doing by the company.



Bob Fiddaman


Back stories.

Glaxo - The Sex Tape Scandal

GSK's Mark Reilly Accused of Running a "massive bribery network"

I'm Just a Blogger - Here's GSK Served on Prawn Crackers

GSK Hiked Product Prices to Fund Bribery Scam

GSK's Sales Reps Want Their Money Back

GSK's Private Investigator [The Video]

Peter Humphrey's 2012 Presentation - Pharma Bribery

GSK's Chinese Whispers and David Cameron

“GSK were really cagey", Claims Whitehall Official.

Glaxo Hire Ropes & Gray to Delve Into its Chinese Operations.

GSK CHINA - Bribery was Rife 13 Years Ago

Witty Plays Down China Scandal

Witty Witty Bang Wang. The Glaxo Gangbang...Allegedly

Book Your Holidays With GSK Travel

Andrew Witty... I know narrrrrrrrthing

The Penny Drops for GSK's Private Investigator.

GSK China Bought Patient’s Silence for $9,000

GSK China Bought Patient’s Silence for $9,000

A truly fascinating read regarding the corruption in China, all committed by the hand of British based pharmaceutical giant, GlaxoSmithKline.

The New York Times (NYT) recently ran a superb article regarding GSK's nefarious activities in China, activities that saw them plead guilty, a result of which saw them being handed down a $500 million dollar fine.

The article by David Barboza, although brilliant, is tantalizing, in as much that The Times claims to have in its possession emails and documents, none of which they have provided, at least in their entirety.

The China scandal is a story of greed, corruption, cover-ups, bribery and pay-offs, all combined with a sex scandal video and a company burying it's head in the sand over its China practices - preferring instead to go after the person who blew the whistle on the whole sordid affair.

It's a subject I covered many times on this blog (Links at the foot of this post) and one that seems to be rehashed with additions on a regular basis.

The Times article throws out some very interesting facts about the case that were previously kept under wraps - one such fact being that they (The Times) have evidence that "Glaxo “almost killed one patient by illegally marketing its drug Lamictal,” said the email, which was obtained by The Times. “GSK China bought the patient’s silence for $9,000.”"

Glaxo buying a patient's silence? Surely not?

There was me thinking they only did that in litigation, Paxil withdrawal (Over 3,000 patients 'paid off') - Paxil Birth defects (Over 800 patients 'paid off')

So, who was the patient in receipt of Glaxo's $9,000, moreover, what did this patient have that GSK didn't want others to see?

According to the NYT...

The email was one of nearly two dozen that the whistle-blower sent over the course of 17 months to Chinese regulators, Glaxo executives and the company’s auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers.

In 2012 Glaxo plead guilty to a whole host of violations throughout America, the guilty plea resulted in a record breaking fine of $3 billion. At the time, Glaxo Chief, Andrew Witty, pledged, “We’re determined this is never going to happen again.”

Witty, who had been made aware of the unfolding stench in China shortly after the 2012 guilty plea in the US, is stepping down from his CEO position in April next year - It's quite a legacy he has left behind, one which he took over from former Chief, JP Garnier who, in essence, oversaw the corruption in America and left Witty to suck up the fallout.

What an abhorrent company this is. Corruption, bribery (of officials and patients) and the manufacturer of prescription meds that have either killed people or disfigured them in such a way that they need to continue having surgery for the rest of their lives. Let's not forget those that have suffered as a result of becoming addicted to GSK's medications either.

The Times article also digs deeper into the involvement of Mark Reilly, who, at the time, was Head of GSK's China operations. They claim...

An email alleged that Mr. Reilly, a British national who had helped manage the company’s China operation for four years, was complicit in a bribery scheme tied to a travel agency called China Comfort Travel, or C.C.T. According to the email, Glaxo funneled money through the travel agency to pay off doctors. The travel agency also supplied Mr. Reilly with women, as a way to secure that business.

“In order to acquire more business, C.C.T. bribed Mark Reilly, the general manager of GSK (China) with sex,” the email said. “Mark Reilly accepted this bribery and made C.C.T. get the maximized benefits in return.”

That's some perk to have!  China Comfort Travel bring a whole new meaning to the word 'comfort'.

Any jobs going whereby the employer offers a bonus of playing hide the salami?

I'm sure red-blooded males would have been first in-line for such a job working for a company complicit in fraudulent activities. Sadly, for those red-blooded males at least, Reilly was offered (and took) the perk - I wonder if he claimed for the 15 minutes of overtime too? (Assuming that Reilly could last that long in the sack)

When faced with over 17 months of emails from the whistleblower Glaxo decided to seek help, they did so by hiring a private investigator, Peter Humphrey and his wife, Yu Yingzeng.

Humphrey did some digging and, at the time, provided information to Glaxo that pointed to the possible whistleblower. Vivian Shi, was a 47-year-old executive handling government affairs in Glaxo’s Shanghai office, I say former because she was previously fired by GSK for their belief (Before Humphrey was hired) that she was behind the whistleblowing allegations. The 'official' line of her dismissal was that she had been falsifying travel expenses.

Humphrey, it appears, was merely suggesting that Shi may have been involved - he, at no time, ever provided GSK with any evidence that their former executive was the one who was whistleblowing. Shi, who remember had already left GSK, denied any part in the whole Chinagate scandal.

During his investigations Humphrey obtained information that was deemed to be by false means according to Chinese officials. Both he and his wife were later arrested, charged then sent to prison. Meantime, Reilly, who was the mastermind of the whole scam, was sent back home to the UK - No jail time. It's unknown what Reilly is doing today, presumably he doesn't work for GSK in any capacity, although I wouldn't put it past them to re-hire him, just as they did with Vivian Shi, the very person they had fired because they thought she was the one blowing the whistle on its Chinese operations.

Remarkably, GSK re-hired Shi last year, although it is unclear in what capacity. (See Glaxo and Former Whistleblower Suspect Reunite)

GSK must be a truly great company to work for, not only do they offer, by proxy, free blowjobs to heads of operations but they re-hire you after previously sacking you for, ahem, "falsifying travel expenses."

The Times article is a must read and once again highlights how GSK prefer to target people who bring the company's misdemeanors to their attention rather than target the person carrying out the misdemeanors.

GSK Corporate motto claims, "We are dedicated to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better, live longer." - I just never knew this included blowjobs via complicit bribery deals - the re-hiring after breaking rules - and buying patients silence.

Nice job (blow) Glaxo!

Bob Fiddaman

Back Stories

Glaxo - The Sex Tape Scandal

GSK's Mark Reilly Accused of Running a "massive bribery network"

I'm Just a Blogger - Here's GSK Served on Prawn Crackers

GSK Hiked Product Prices to Fund Bribery Scam

GSK's Sales Reps Want Their Money Back

GSK's Private Investigator [The Video]

Peter Humphrey's 2012 Presentation - Pharma Bribery

GSK's Chinese Whispers and David Cameron

“GSK were really cagey", Claims Whitehall Official.

Glaxo Hire Ropes & Gray to Delve Into its Chinese Operations.

GSK CHINA - Bribery was Rife 13 Years Ago

Witty Plays Down China Scandal

Witty Witty Bang Wang. The Glaxo Gangbang...Allegedly

Book Your Holidays With GSK Travel

Andrew Witty... I know narrrrrrrrthing

The Penny Drops for GSK's Private Investigator.

GSK's Witty to Stand Down

So, Andrew Witty has announced he will be leaving the sinking ship (GlaxoSmithKline) in 2017, this after being in charge of the criminally prosecuted company for 8 years and having spent a total of 31 years at GSK.

Sales and profits have flagged, lawsuits have been lost and, in many instances, settled. Bribery and corruption has been noted and plants have been shut down due to uncleanliness.

That's quite a legacy to leave behind considering Witty was knighted in 2012 for "for services to the economy and the UK pharmaceutical industry."

Services to the UK economy?

Wait a minute here...

Who was it now that were fined £37.6 million for paying money to generic drug companies to prevent the potential entry of generic alternatives to its own antidepressant, Seroxat? A move which potentially deprived the NHS from "significant price falls". (see Glaxo fined £37.6m for 'illegal behaviour' over Seroxat deals)

Not on my watch

Okay, the £37.6 million fine was imposed on Glaxo for their nefarious activities before Witty became top dog  But who was it that, after being handed down the fine, denied any wrong doing? Um, GlaxoSmithKline (2016). Obviously any statement made by Glaxo relating to legal matters would have had to go through their CEO first.

It's ironic that GSK delayed others selling generic brands of Seroxat during this period - by paying those to delay their version GSK went on to pocket £90 million in 2001, that's just one year folks, it's unknown what Seroxat went on to make Glaxo from then til 2004.

Millions of UK patients were prescribed Seroxat during this period, many of whom became addicted, many of whom thought about suicide, many of whom who actually went on to complete suicide. And lets not forget those pregnant mothers who either gave birth to children with birth defects or those forced to abort their pregnancies due to birth defects caused by Seroxat.

Witty is aware of the problems Seroxat has caused UK consumers but he has declined to meet with patients to discuss this matter. (see GSK's Andrew Witty in Patient Aftercare Snub) In fact, during his 8 year spell as CEO for Glaxo, Witty has made no public apology for any of the crimes where they have been found guilty. Maybe he feels he doesn't need to as the majority of crimes stem from when his predecessor, JP Garnier, was in charge. Any crimes committed during Witty's 8 year reign are either "robustly denied" or kept 'in-house' before whistleblowers come along and blow the lid - we, the public, still get no apology from the company.

Witty apparently knew nothing about the fraud being committed in China and even when he did he made no apologies for the behaviour of senior executives (see Andrew Witty... I know narrrrrrrrthing).

Let's take a close look at Witty's remarks regarding the Chinese fraud. This from The Guardian:

Witty said GSK's head office in London had no knowledge of the alleged fraudulent activity until the Chinese police raided its offices in Shanghai earlier this month. "As far as headquarters, we had no sense of this issue."

This is despite GSK declaring last month that a four-month internal investigation into allegations of bribery and corruption in China found "no evidence of corruption or bribery in our China business".

Witty said the previous allegations raised by a whistleblower were "quite different" to the new charges. "They are two completely different sets of issues: we fully investigated the first and of course this has now surfaced in the last couple of weeks," he said.

In fact, GSK China seemed more concerned about finding the whistleblower rather than investigating the claims of the whistleblower. They hired ChinaWhys, a company run by husband and wife, Peter Humphrey and Yu Yingzeng. Humphrey and Yingzeng were later incarcerated in a Chinese prison for matters unrelated to the GSK investigation while the ring leader of the Glaxo fraud, Mark Reilly, was handed down a suspended sentence; ie no jail time.

So, take a look at Witty's statements again. It appears, to me at least, that even when crimes are committed under his captaincy Witty can still brush them off because he "didn't know about them."

Prior to Chinagate we had a record $3 billion dollar fine handed down to GSK from the Department of Justice who had been investigating Glaxo's sales and promotional practices between January 1997 and 2004 related to nine products (Advair, Flovent, Imitrex, Lamictal, Lotronex, Paxil, Valtrex, Wellbutrin, and Zofran).

Again, this was before Witty took charge, again Witty made no form of apologies to those harmed by the above GSK products. In fact the statement issued by GSK in July 2012 sees them try to cover themselves in garlands with statements such as, "We cooperated with the Department of Justice in these investigations." and also, "The company reached this settlement with the government to avoid the delay, expense, inconvenience and uncertainty of protracted litigation of the government’s claims and to put behind us these long-standing investigations of what was, for the most part, very old conduct."

The Department of Justice, however, were more clear with their statements. As you can see (above) Glaxo claim to have reached this settlement with the government to avoid the delay, expense, inconvenience and uncertainty of protracted litigation.

Hmm.

Here's the other side of the coin.

Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs

Global health care giant GlaxoSmithKline LLC (GSK) agreed to plead guilty and to pay $3 billion to resolve its criminal and civil liability arising from the company’s unlawful promotion of certain prescription drugs, its failure to report certain safety data, and its civil liability for alleged false price reporting practices.

Nowhere in Glaxo's statement do we read that they agreed to plead guilty when in actual fact they...

 - agreed to plead guilty to misbranding Paxil in that its labeling was false and misleading regarding the use of Paxil for patients under 18.

- agreed to plead guilty to misbranding Wellbutrin in that its labeling did not bear adequate directions for these off-label uses.

- agreed to plead guilty to failing to report data to the FDA and has agreed to pay a criminal fine in the amount of $242,612,800 for its unlawful conduct concerning Avandia.

- agreed to plead guilty for its Off-Label Promotion and Kickbacks


No apology was ever made despite Paxil causing suicidal thoughts and completion, despite Avandia being responsible for a number of deaths, one of which was due to go to trial but, on the eve of the trial Glaxo made a settlement citing, "the company settled to avoid the risks and costs of litigation."

Stuck record anyone?

A further 13,000 cases of wrongful death by Avandia were "resolved" by GSK.

You know if GSK wanted to avoid the risks and costs of litigation then why aren't they doing the same with the UK Seroxat (Paxil) litigation, a case that is approaching 10 years since it was first filed. They may argue that they have no case to answer but they settled the same claims with over 3,500 claimants in America, once again it was resolved to "avoid the risks and costs of litigation."

Perhaps I'm being unfair to Witty. He was basically given the task of polishing a turd when he took over from Garnier in 2008 - in fact no matter how hard he tried to clean up the mess left by Garnier he was, it appears, making his own mess - it's been akin to filling up a bucket with excrement, that bucket having a hole in it.

Thanks for the laughs along the way, the company statements, the denial, the settlements. Thanks for showing us all how to ignore the public is the way that GSK operate.

Thanks too for giving me almost 10 years of fodder for this old blog of mine, for trying to sue me because I made a couple of points about one of your spokespersons (or was your reason for suing me because I am part of the UK litigation?)

Thanks must also be mentioned for the way in which Witty's company has brought me close to many of the victims (those who have lost loved ones due to Paxil induced suicide and Paxil induced birth defects, not to mention the hundreds of people I have met and corresponded with regarding Seroxat addiction.

A super-dooper fat pay cheque will no doubt be coming his way. Amazing isn't it. Take over a company left in the doggie doo by a Frenchman who resembles Monty Burns from the Simpsons ~ continue running the company in the same manner; ie commit various crimes yet deny any wrong-doing. Retire at the end of it all and live a life of luxury bereft of any remorse for causing so much heartache for the victims his company has left behind to pick up the pieces after losing loved ones to company drugs.

Question on everyone's lips now is, 'Who gets to polish the turd once Witty leaves'?

Let's hope, whoever it is, has the decency to meet patients face-to-face opposed to hiding behind fat cat attorneys. Let's hope too that any successor to Witty will have the gumption to apologise to victims of GSK's pharmaceutical products, regardless of whether or not the deaths occurred on someone else's watch.

Bob Fiddaman.

UK Serious Fraud Office and the GSK 3

By Bob Fiddaman and The Truthman

(Because two heads are better than one)

In 2014 it was announced that the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) were going to be investigating GlaxoSmithKline with regard to their nefarious activities that have recently come to light in countries such as China, UK, USA, Iraq, Poland, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Syria, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

As with all investigations we rarely get to see what is going on, that's why I found the following court document surprising, so surprising that I decided to invite long time friend and fellow blogger, the Truthman, on board to help me to some digging. Truthman's excellent exposé on GSK can be found on his blog, the aptly titled, "GSK, Licence To Kill."

The court document gives us three names, there may be more employees of GSK, past and present, that may have already been interviewed by the SFO or, as we suspect, many more who may be interviewed in the future.

The three GSK employees, two of them current and one a former employee, are, it appears, not cooperating with the SFO, each claiming that they have a right to be legally represented during those interviews.

According to court documents the three individuals were told by the investigating SFO that they could not have legal representation - the SFO later did a u-turn but told the three that they could not use the services of the same law firm representing GSK with respect to the investigation.

All three asked for a judicial review on the decision claiming that they had a right to use whoever they chose to represent them. The  High Court, after reviewing the original decision, found that the grounds were unarguable.


The three employees.

Whilst it's important to note that the three individuals are not suspects into GSK's alleged bribery and corruption, it's interesting to see the positions they hold at GSK. It's also interesting that these individuals, if they have nothing to hide, would hold up the process of the SFO investigation on the basis that they wanted their legal representation to come from the same law firm, Arnold & Porter UK LLP. If, the 'GSK Three' wished to help the SFO then surely it wouldn't matter who they were represented by.

So, who are the three?

1. Jason Lord. (No photo available)

Research shows that Lord was, in 2006, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Security Adviser in the Corporate Security and Investigations Department.

In 2006, Lord attended and gave a presentation at the Jordan Intellectual Property Association (JIPA), a membership-based association that has organized several IP training events in Jordan. (Web Archive)

For those that don't know, Jordan is another country currently under investigation. The claims are that GSK staff in Jordan have bribed doctors. The allegations relating to Jordan and also Lebanon were first reported in the Wall Street Journal, which cited emails from a person who first contacted GSK in December. The paper said the emails allege that GSK sales representatives bribed doctors to prescribe drugs and vaccines by issuing free samples to doctors that they were allowed to sell on.

Not much else is known about Jason Lord.


2. Paul Reynolds.

Paul Reynolds, GlaxoSmithKline

According to his LinkedIn page, Reynolds currently holds the position of GSK Head of Respiratory Marketing, UK.

Between July 2010 – March 2012 Reynolds was GSK's Senior Marketing Director, Seretide (Europe, Asia Pacific, and Emerging Markets)

Seretide  is a product manufactured and marketed by GlaxoSmithKline, it is used to treat Asthma.

In 2014, BBC Panorama aired 'Who's Paying Your Doctor?' where it was alleged that GSK paid doctors to promote GSK's asthma drug Seretide in Poland between 2010 and 2012.

Ironically, in 2012, Reynolds became Commercial Director, Retail for GlaxoSmithKline, a position which he held in Warsaw, Poland.

In 2011, Reynolds, wrote an article for the pmlive, a webiste about the pharmaceutical industry.

Some of his quotes, we feel, were misplaced. Maybe Reynolds was speaking from the heart when he said...

"Companies like GSK began taking action against the mistakes of the past many years ago. I feel that I operate in a company that  works tirelessly to do the right thing, not just to work within the  rules and to restore trust, but to act and operate transparently and  ethically, because it is the right and the only thing that a business  and an industry should do. Pushing at the boundaries against competitors or with customers, whether they are prescribers, payers or patients, is not good business. The industry was still learning to operate within a new space, having previously enjoyed much greater freedom. So, naturally the focus was on understanding how to operate within new rules, without contravening them.When I look back at this early part of my marketing career, I see the naivety of some of my actions and of those of people around me, as we tested how far we could go while staying within the remit of the Code. For me now, rules are to be bettered and not tested and this outlook is one I see as the norm today."

We find it interesting that Paul Reynolds mentions the 'pushing of the boundaries' early in his career. Was Reynolds suggesting the boundaries of what is ethical perhaps or what is legal? He also says that the industry previously enjoyed 'greater freedom', what exactly does he mean here? 'Greater freedom to do what? Considering  this article was written in 2011 and GSK were yet to be fined for their $3 Billion US fraud felony in 2012, and their China bribe operation in 2014, perhaps Paul Reynolds was being a little premature in his assessment of GSK's ethical compliance system?

As we mentioned, Reynolds currently holds the position of GSK Head of Respiratory Marketing, UK. Seretide is the UK brand name for Advair, as it is known in the US.

GSK's Advair is used to prevent asthma attacks, and to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD] and the recent whistleblower suit, that GSK plead guilty to and paid a record $3 billion in fines, shows how they aggressively marketed it with promotional 'get togethers' as shown in the video  excerpts [below]

3. Justin Mayger

Justin Mayger, GlaxoSmithKline

Mayger currently holds the position of Director, Compliance and Control Integration at GSK. He was first employed by GSK in 2005 where he took on the position of Senior Business Risk Consultant. Five years later saw Mayger take up the position of Director, Anti-Bribery and Corruption Prevention  (ABAC) at GSK. (LinkedIn)

The role of the ABAC is to investigate allegations as soon as it becomes aware of them. Part of GSK's policy on bribery and corruption in the business reads...

GSK has zero tolerance towards bribery and corruption. GSK employees shall not make, offer to make, or authorise payment to a third party (e.g. sales agent, distributor or intermediary) with knowledge that all or part of the payment will be offered or given to any individual to secure an improper advantage, obtain or retain business.

All three will now be interviewed by the UK Serious Fraud Office. It's unknown why the SFO have picked these three individuals to help with their investigation. 

The court document, THE QUEEN ON THE APPLICATION OF (1) JASON LORD (2)PAUL REYNOLDS (3) JUSTIN MAYGER Claimants v  DIRECTOR OF THE SERIOUS FRAUD OFFICE, can be downloaded here.

Glaxo's current CEO, Andrew Witty, was the Vice President and General Manager of Marketing of Glaxo Wellcome Inc. [GlaxoWellcome and SmithKline Beecham merged in 2000 to become GlaxoSmithKline.] Some of his responsibilities included, strategy development, marketing execution and new product positioning. Witty and his team were awarded a Medical Marketing Association [MMA] award [Medical Marketer of the Year] in 1998. He also worked in the Company’s International New Products groups, both in the Respiratory and HIV/Infectious disease fields.

Two words - Marketing and Respiratory. Alarm bells anyone?

GSK's CEO, Andrew Witty, said in a statement about the record $3 billion payout that “Today brings to resolution difficult, long-standing matters for (Glaxo). Whilst these originate in a different era for the company, they cannot and will not be ignored. On behalf of (Glaxo), I want to express our regret and reiterate that we have learnt from the mistakes that were made,” 

We think the SFO need to look further afield if they wish to get to the bottom of the whole Seretide promotional activities of GSK, if indeed that is their intention here.

Collectively, myself and co-writer, Truthman, strongly urge the SFO to interview Andrew Witty if they wish to know more about the respiratory drug promotion from GlaxoSmithKline. Let's face it, the guy must have a wealth of experience in all matters relating to the respiratory side of the business at the global pharmaceutical giant. Failing that, maybe the SFO should contact Peter Humphrey, he was hired by GSK China to investigate bribery claims, despite GSK denying that the claims were true - they later went on to plead guilty to the claims.

We would be extremely surprised if Andrew Witty ends up anywhere near a prosecution, given that lawyers representing GSK seem to be doing their very best to stall the investigation.

GSK have huge power and sway in the UK, they are a major cash cow, and one only has to look at  the board to see that there are many Knights of the realm (Sir's) who  make most of the executive decisions at GSK. In fact, GSK have so many Knights stewarding the company we could be forgiven if we mistook it as some kind of pseudo-Camelot, except these Knights certainly aren't as chivalrous.



Another Revolving Door

Trying to get a successful prosecution against GSK, or any individuals operating within GSK, may prove to be difficult given that Kathleen Harris, a former SFO lawyer, was recently hired as a partner at US-headquartered firm Arnold & Porter, the very same law firm who are defending Glaxo and who wished to represent the Glaxo three during their interviews. (Source) During her time at the SFO she supervised and provided strategic oversight to a number of high-level investigations and prosecutions. She also played a key role in developing seminal guidelines on critical issues, including plea negotiations, civil remedies, civil recovery and corporate prosecutions.

Upon leaving the SFO to join Arnold & Porter, Harris said, “Arnold & Porter has a prominent group of white collar defense lawyers with extensive criminal law experience on the prosecutorial side from the U.S. Justice Department and other regulatory agencies, as well as on the defense side. It’s great to be a part of this team.” (Source)

It wouldn't surprise us if the current SFO investigation comes down to some sort of plea negotiation between both parties. Both the Truthman and I hope we are wrong. History, however, may repeat itself as this is not the first time we have seen a revolving door between prosecution and defence where GSK have been involved in litigation or investigation. (see US Attorney General Eric Holder and the Revolving Door)

Contrast the SFO investigation with the MHRA's investigation into GSK and you will see such a huge difference. The SFO wish to seek the truth by actually investigating claims, where the MHRA carried out a near five-year investigation into GlaxoSmithKline, commencing in 2003 and ending in 2008, and, well, really didn't do much to find the whole truth.

GSK had failed to report in a timely manner adverse event data from clinical trials in children of its antidepressant, Seroxat (Paxil). (See Restoring Study 329) After nearly five long years the MHRA decided not to prosecute, not only that, it emerged that the MHRA did not even bother to interview any employees from GSK.

At the time, I, Bob Fiddaman, asked the MHRA, under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act, the following question...

“Why were MHRA enforcement investigators unable to question GSK staff?”

The MHRA replied...

Under UK criminal law suspects in criminal investigations can not be compelled to answer questions, they have a right to remain silent. Lengthy negotiations were conducted with solicitors acting for individual members of GSK staff and for GSK itself with a view to persuading them to attend interviews under caution. The conclusion of the correspondence was that all the potential interviewees indicated that they would not attend an interview under caution.

The individual suspects (as opposed to the corporate entity GSK) could have been arrested and required to attend an interview under caution. However they could still not be compelled to answer questions and, given that their solicitors had clearly indicated that they would not answer questions, the investigation team concluded that there was nothing to gain by carrying out arrests.

The near five-year investigation resulted in the MHRA sending GSK a "You've been naughty, but it's okay" type of letter, a letter that, the then current GSK CEO, JP Garnier, responded to by stating, that 'Glaxo had done nothing wrong.'

Talk about arrogance!

Maybe the MHRA should take a lesson from the Serious Fraud Office or, maybe the MHRA need to get better counsel?

Those in-the-know know why the MHRA did not prosecute GSK and it had nothing to do with their official explanation.

Let's hope that Messrs Lord, Reynolds and Mayger can provide the SFO with information they need to find the ringleader involved in the fraud and bribery, let's hope they (SFO) can show the British drug regulator how investigations should be carried out. Let's hope the SFO's investigation leads to criminal prosecutions and, hopefully, some custodial sentences.

With a former SFO employee now working for Arnold & Porter, our hopes may be dashed.

I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope. - Red, Shawshank Redemption

Bob Fiddaman & The Truthman.