Do JWs still accept hemopure as an acceptable alternative for blood?
I hope this guy suffers the same fate as Rutherford.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D96S0GS00.html
Ex-Biopure exec to plead guilty to faking cancer
03/11/2009
By DENISE LAVOIE / Associated Press
A former executive of Biopure Corp. is expected to plead guilty Wednesday to an obstruction of justice charge for pretending he had terminal cancer to dodge a federal lawsuit filed by securities regulators.
Howard Richman, a former vice president at Biopure, originally pleaded not guilty to the charge in October, but court documents indicated he planned to change the plea. His lawyer, Ian Gold, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued the Cambridge-based Biopure, Richman and three other executives in 2005. It alleged the drug developer had misled investors over the prospects of winning approval for a synthetic blood product called Hemopure.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had rejected clinical trials because of safety concerns with Hemopure, a blood substitute made from cow hemoglobin.
In October 2006, Richman's lawyers told the judge their client was gravely ill from colon cancer and had less than a 15 percent chance of survival. Richman allegedly produced a forged doctor's note that said he was being treated with surgery and chemotherapy.
In July 2007, U.S. District Judge Patti Saris approved Richman's request to postpone a final judgment in the case, effectively ending the lawsuit against him.
The case was reopened in December 2007. Richman, of Pearland, Texas, was indicted on the obstruction charge nine months later.
Prosecutors accused him of fabricating the terminal illness in an attempt to wriggle out of the lawsuit and avoid paying a large civil fine sought by the SEC during settlement negotiations.
In August 2008, Richman reached a settlement with the SEC that required him to pay a $150,000 fine and barred him from serving as an officer or director of any public company.
Richman faces up to 10 years in prison on the obstruction charge.