Re: Fwd: Podesta/Wyss

From:john.podesta@gmail.com To: cheryl.mills@gmail.com Date: 2014-08-30 14:35 Subject: Re: Fwd: Podesta/Wyss

Saw it. Just churns in the Breitbart Free Beacon loop. You around for a call? On Aug 29, 2014 11:12 AM, "Cheryl Mills" <cheryl.mills@gmail.com> wrote: > fysa > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Heather Samuelson <hsamuelson@cdmillsgroup.com> > Date: Fri, Aug 29, 2014 at 10:27 AM > Subject: Podesta/Wyss > To: Cheryl Mills <cheryl.mills@gmail.com>, > > > I happened to come across this yesterday. Wanted to share in case you > missed it last month. A couple other similar outlets, such as Free > Beacon, picked it up too. > > > http://washingtonexaminer.com/three-people-died-in-illegal-human-experiments-carried-out-by-john-podesta-backers-firm/article/2551139 > > Three > <http://washingtonexaminer.com/three-people-died-in-illegal-human-experiments-carried-out-by-john-podesta-backers-firm/article/2551139> > people died in illegal human experiments carried out by John Podesta > backer's firm > BY RICHARD POLLOCK <http://washingtonexaminer.com/author/richard-pollock> > <https://plus.google.com/115638159795051915448?rel=author> | JULY 23, > 2014 | 5:00 AM > TOPICS: WATCHDOG <http://washingtonexaminer.com/watchdog> BARACK OBAMA > <http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/barack-obama> CENTER FOR AMERICAN > PROGRESS > <http://washingtonexaminer.com/section/center-for-american-progress> FDA > <http://washingtonexaminer.com/section/fda> ACCOUNTABILITY > <http://washingtonexaminer.com/watchdog/accountability> JOHN PODESTA > <http://washingtonexaminer.com/section/john-podesta> > > John Podesta <http://washingtonexaminer.com/section/john-podesta>, one of President > Obama <http://washingtonexaminer.com/section/barack-obama>'s closest > White House advisers, counts among his key financial supporters Hansjorg > Wyss, a reclusive Swiss billionaire whose company conducted illegal human > experiments that resulted in the deaths of three elderly patients. > > Justice Department > <http://washingtonexaminer.com/section/justice-department> attorneys negotiated > a $23.8 million plea deal > <http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/CriminalInvestigations/ucm228273.htm> in 2011 > with Synthes Inc., and Norian Corporation, its wholly owned subsidiary, and > sent four of its U.S. executives to prison. The money was paid to the > federal government. > > Two of the victims died in a California > <http://washingtonexaminer.com/section/california> hospital and the third > perished in a Texas <http://washingtonexaminer.com/section/texas> medical > facility. One of the California victims was Ryoichi Kikuchi, 83, who died > on the operating table at John Muir Hospital in Walnut Creek on Sept. 19, > 2009. > > He was a prize-winning physicist who analyzed the thermodynamic behavior > of liquids and gases and worked at scientific centers at the Massachusetts > Institute of Technology, the University of California at Berkeley, the Max > Planck Institute in Germany > <http://washingtonexaminer.com/section/germany> and the National Bureau > of Standards. > > The federal judge who heard the case said the company's "pattern of > deception is unparalleled.” > > Synthes was a Swiss medical device firm with U.S. corporate offices in > West Chester, Pa. Wyss opened the U.S. office in 1974 and was CEO until the > company was bought by Johnson & Johnson in 2012 for $21.3 billion. > > The *Washington Examine*r asked a White House spokesman whether the > president was aware of Podesta’s relationship with Wyss or of the three > deaths when Podesta was invited to join the chief executive's inner circle. > The spokesman declined to respond. > > Podesta, who was White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton > <http://washingtonexaminer.com/section/bill-clinton>, and Wyss have been > financially linked for years. Among the Swiss billionaire's largest gifts > in recent years have been those made to the Center for American Progress > <http://washingtonexaminer.com/section/center-for-american-progress>. > > CAP received $4.1 million from Wyss during Podesta's tenure as the liberal > nonprofit’s founding president and chief executive officer. A CAP spokesman > declined to respond to the *Examiner*'s request for information about the > Podesta-Wyss relationship. > > The HJW Foundation, which is Wyss's private foundation, hired Podesta in > 2013 as a paid consultant, for which he was paid $87,000 that year, > according to the presidential counselor’s financial disclosure statement. > > A HJW spokesman declined to respond to the *Examiner*’s questions about > the kind of work Podesta performed for the fee. > > Wyss has a seat on CAP's 10-member board of directors, which also includes > former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright; former Senate Majority Leader > Tom Daschle, D-S.D.; and Carol Browner, Obama's first energy czar and > administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency > <http://washingtonexaminer.com/section/epa>under Clinton. > > Podesta's think tank is the fourth-largest recipient of Wyss money among > 27 liberal nonprofit activist groups the Swiss billionaire has supported > since 2008, according to the HJW Foundation'sInternal Revenue Service > <http://washingtonexaminer.com/section/irs> tax returns. > > The IRS 990 tax returns for all of the groups can be reviewed via the > Examiner's Citizen Audit database. > <http://washingtonexaminer.com/data/citizen-audit> > > CAP itself was the largest single recipient of HJW contributions in 2011 > and 2012, according to the foundation’s IRS filling. > > Wyss and other Synthes executives decided to enter the highly profitable > field of spinal surgery in 2000 with Norian XR, a cement-like mixture of > calcium phosphate with barium sulfate. > > Company managers claimed the compound could act like bone when injected in > the spine in a procedure called "vertebrosplasty." > > Federal prosecutors noted that at the time there was "excitement about > using Norian for vertebroplasties" at Synthes, even though the U.S. Food > and Drug Administration <http://washingtonexaminer.com/section/fda> had > not approved its use on the spine. FDA approval could take at least three > years. > > Company managers, however, decided not to seek FDA approval for Norian XR > on the spine. Instead, they conducted unauthorized human experiments over a > four-year period that included the three deaths. > > FDA officials got wind of the deadly experiments and dispatched Capt. > Joseph Despins in May 2004 to conduct an unannounced inspection, which kept > him at the company until June 18. > > Despins' findings subsequently became the basis for a federal indictment > of the company > <http://www.justice.gov/usao/pae/News/2009/jun/synthesrelease.pdf>, its > subsidiary and four of its officers, which was filed June 16, 2009. > > U.S. District Judge Legrome D. Davis said during a 2011 sentencing hearing > following the plea agreement that the two firms ran “rogue clinical > trials,” conducted “illegal training of spine surgeons” and “in search of > profits, chose not to tell the FDA the truth.” > > He also said they “did not stop the testing until three elderly patients > had died on the operating table over the period of a year. … This pattern > of deception is unparalleled.” > > Four Synthes executives went to jail, each for varying terms of less than > one year, in the plea agreement. They admitted their company had > feloniously conspired “to defraud the United States” in an effort “to > impair and impede the lawful functions of the Food and Drug Administration.” > > Wyss was not named in the indictment but was referred to as “Person No. 7” > and the “CEO and a major stockholder of Synthes.” Wyss was CEO and major > stockholder at the time of the indictment and the experiments. > > Wyss, who now lives in Wyoming > <http://washingtonexaminer.com/section/wyoming>, is a major donor to > scores of liberal groups in this country, with his contributions estimated > to total more than $110 million, according to the HJW Foundation's tax > filings with the IRS since 2008. > > The Swiss Broadcasting Corp. reported last year that Wyss was the > second-richest person inSwitzerland > <http://washingtonexaminer.com/section/switzerland>. He is the 112th > wealthiest man in the world, with a net worth estimated at $11.2 billion by > Forbes magazine. > > Despite his relationship with Podesta and active role in funding liberal > political activism, Wyss is not well known to the American public. > > In fact, George Soros <http://washingtonexaminer.com/section/george-soros>, > the high-profile financial supporter of many liberal groups, has given less > to CAP than Wyss. > > Wyss told a Swiss newspaper in a rare interview in 2011 that “nobody knows > me, and I hope that it stays like this,” according to Fortune. > > But federal court documents paint a graphic description of his firm's > brazen decision to ignore the FDA’s drug approval procedures, which are > intended to assure patient safety. > > The FDA had previously approved another Synthes-produced substance for use > in treating injured bones in the arm. > > But in order for XR to be used in spinal cases, the company had to > complete the government’s Investigational Device Exemption process. > > Regardless of whether the company pursued the IDE process, however, the > FDA required Synthes to include a warning label on the XR compound's > container stating it was “not intended for the treatment of vertebral > compression fractures.” > > Wyss and his subordinates decided during a Nov. 15, 2001, meeting to forgo > the IDE process and to proceed with the unauthorized human experiments, > according to the indictment. > > “Person No. 7 decided that Synthes would not pursue an IDE study,” the > indictment said, referring directly to Wyss. The meeting minutes noted the > CEO and his subordinates ordered 60-80 test procedures without FDA approval. > > In a pre-sentencing report, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Crawley described > Wyss’s role: “After this [November] meeting Wyss, the CEO and major > shareholder of Synthes, directed that Synthes would not pursue FDA approval > of Norian XR via an IDE,” but “would press on with a ‘test market’” with > surgeons. > > Crawley also said the Synthes test market programs “were not slow or > cautious, or careful, or motivated by patient safety.” > > Davis said at a Dec. 13, 2011, sentencing hearing for Michael D. Huggins, > one of the convicted Synthes executives, that “the safer and lawful > approval route was expressly rejected.” > > “One of the most offensive things was the little piddly sentence they got > for this,” complained Eva Sloan, whose elderly mother, Lois Eskind, died > during an XR experiment, according to Fortune. > > Sloan filed a separate wrongful death lawsuit against the company in 2012 > that charged “willful, wanton, malicious and reckless misconduct.” > > The four executives “could have gone to 7-Eleven and stolen a six-pack of > beer and got more time,” she said. > > Sloan’s lawsuit was settled out of court. Laura Feld, Sloan’s attorney, > said she could not comment because the settlement included a > confidentiality agreement. > > Defense attorney Brent J. Gurney told Davis at a sentencing hearing he > thought Wyss was the missing person at the table. > > “There is another person who is not present in this process,” he said > while representing former Synthes executive Richard E. Bohner, “and that is > the former chairman, CEO, controlling shareholder of the company, Mr. Wyss.” > > Gurney, a former U.S. attorney, said, “Mr. Wyss was a highly involved > owner of Synthes. The record shows that at the very beginning, it was he > who made some of the very critical decisions that put the company on its > ultimate pathway.” > > > > >