s**u
发帖数: 9035 | 1 发信人: shmu (shmu), 信区: FDU
标 题: 复旦药学院校友ChengYi Liang news:
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Mon Apr 4 08:05:06 2011, 美东)
复旦药学院校友ChengYi Liang news:
FDA insider trading case a ‘nightmare'
Chemist, son netted millions on biotech stock deals, prosecutors say
by C. Benjamin Ford | Staff Writer
A federal chemist who learned from his agency's database that it was about
to approve Vanda Pharmaceuticals' schizophrenia drug, Fanapt, made more than
$1 million trading on the Rockville biotech's stock with that inside
knowledge, authorities claim.
Cheng Yi Liang, 57, and his son Andrew Liang, 25, both of Gaithersburg made
a nearly 800 percent profit on the deal, authorities said. In the deal, the
men netted $2.27 million and are accused of using the elder Liang's access
to privileged information at the Food and Drug Administration in Silver
Spring, where he worked.
"We found out about the case a couple of days ago," said Vanda CEO Mihael H.
Polymeropoulos on Thursday. "It's very disappointing it happened in the
first place, but I'm glad the system worked and they were found out."
On Tuesday, the Liangs were charged in U.S. District Court with wire fraud
and other offenses in what a former Securities and Exchange Commission
enforcement lawyer called a "nightmare scenario" for pharmaceutical and
biotech companies.
"This is probably as big an insider trading case we'll see in the Washington
area," said Jacob S. Frenkel, a partner at the Potomac law firm of Shulman,
Rogers, Gandal, Pordy & Ecker.
"This is a nightmare scenario for the pharmaceutical companies and anyone
that deals with government contracts or government approvals," he said. "
This goes to the entire heart of the approval, rejection process, and the
value of that information to someone who gets advanced knowledge of it and
can abuse it."
The Liangs were arrested at their home Tuesday morning, according to Justice
Department officials. They are charged with conspiracy to commit securities
and wire fraud, securities fraud and wire fraud in trading securities of
five companies, according to a criminal complaint filed by FBI Special Agent
Christine Windness and provided by the department.
Cheng Yi Liang had worked since 1996 in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation
Research in the Office of New Drug Quality Assessment in Silver Spring,
where he had access to a list of new drug applications, according to the
complaint. As of Aug. 29, the FDA was paying Cheng Yi Liang $122,744 a year.
Liang was able to glean information from nonpublic documents from an FDA
internal database, Document Archiving, Reporting and Regulatory Tracking
System, known as DARRTS, from July 2006 to last month, according to
prosecutors. With that information, his son used accounts with online broker
Scottrade to make stock trades on companies with new drug review
applications. The five companies involved included two in Maryland: Vanda
Pharmaceuticals and MiddleBrook Pharmaceuticals, then in Germantown.
Besides the profits from their trades, prosecutors said the two men used
their inside knowledge to avoid significant losses, for a total value of $3.
6 million.
Edward M. Rudnic, MiddleBrook's founder and former CEO, declined to comment.
Rudnic left MiddleBrook shortly before the company was moved to Texas by
new major investors, soon after the FDA approved its Moxatag antibiotic. The
company has since gone bankrupt and sold its assets.
FDA and other federal employees are barred from using nonpublic information
they gain from their work for private financial gain, according to the
indictment.
Judy Britz, executive director of the Maryland Biotechnology Center, said
that in her more than 25 years of working in the industry, FDA officials
would not even allow her to buy them a cup of coffee.
"My experience with the FDA is at all levels they've taken special pains to
maintain their distance from industry and work in an ethical manner," she
said.
Most biotechs and pharmaceutical companies are more concerned with getting
their products approved than whether workers at the FDA are using that
information for personal gain, Britz said.
"This is an unusual case, an egregious violation of the ethics of anyone
working at the FDA, and it certainly is concerning," she said.
Polymeropoulos said that while the case did not have an immediate effect on
Vanda, shareholders who sold shares to the Liangs were victimized by not
having the same information as they did.
"I don't think the FDA can prevent every case of criminal activity, so of
course the system has to depend on good information systems, but also the
integrity of the employees," Polymeropoulos said.
The maximum penalty for conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud is a
five-year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine. The maximum penalty for wire
fraud is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The maximum penalty for
securities fraud is five years in prison and a $5 million fine for each
count.
Attorneys for the Liangs declined to comment.
Staff Writer Kristi Tousignant contributed to this report.
c***[email protected] | s**u
发帖数: 9035 | 2 发信人: undercontrol (还好), 信区: Pharmacy
标 题: Re: 美国FDA华裔资深药剂师雇员, 原上海医科大学药学院梁誠一被控
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Mon Apr 4 22:11:19 2011, 美东)
美国华裔药剂师涉嫌内幕交易 最高罚3500万美元
57岁的美国食品药品监督管理局（Food and Drug Administration，下称“FDA”
）华裔药剂师梁诚一（Cheng Yi Liang），因为陷入内幕交易，被美国证券监督部门起
诉。
当地时间3月29日，美国证券交易委员会（Securities and Exchange Commission
，下称“SEC”）对一名FDA的药剂师梁诚一提起诉讼，指控他通过职务便利提前获知
FDA药品审批情况，买卖相关公司股票非法牟利超过360万美元。
与梁诚一一同被起诉的还有6人，其中包括2名中国公民和1名日本公民。一同列入
被告的两个中国人，一名是他84岁的母亲，还有Zhongshan Chen，根据账户信息显示在
上海工作，是AIG的一个股票经纪。
根据美国法律，证券欺诈（security fraud）一旦入罪，最高可被判刑20年，并对
每个账户处以500万美元罚款。
7个账户的买卖
57岁的梁诚一和他的儿子Andrew Liang于当地时间周二早晨在家中被捕，他们随后
被带到马里兰州格林贝尔特（Greenbelt）的联邦地区法院。
毕业于上海一所医学院的梁诚一，从1996年开始为FDA工作，他所任职的药品评价
和研究中心（the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research）负责对新药申
请进行审批。
去年6月，梁诚一作为来自FDA的专家回到上海参加了一场药品研讨会。
由于工作需要，梁诚一有权访问FDA新药申请的内部追踪系统，并获知新药的审批
情况。由于药品研发耗时持久，投入巨大，一旦确定处方药的审批信息会引发相关上市
公司股票的剧烈震荡。
根据SEC披露的信息，在知晓药品是否通过审批及审批公告时间后，梁诚一通过买
卖相关制药公司的股票，获利超过360万美元。他的行为违背了政府职员不得通过政府
非公开信息进行金融交易的原则。
根据SEC的起诉书，梁诚一为了掩盖自己的罪行没有使用本人和他妻子的银行账户
进行交易，而是通过7个个人账户买卖股票，其中包括他84岁、家住上海的母亲陈慧娟
（音译，Hui Juan Chen）。
被告人在2000年12月用他母亲的名字在TD Waterhouse开立交易账户，但账户的邮
寄地址和联系电话却是梁诚一的家庭住址和电话。在追踪了该账户的登录IP地址后，
SEC发现该账户几乎没有来自中国的登录记录，并且多笔交易是通过被告人私人的
Verizon网络账户或AT&T无线网络完成的。
根据SEC的调查，梁诚一利用内幕消息进行股票交易，至少可以追溯到2006年7月，
涉及FDA至少27项新药审批决定及19家上市公司。根据其所获得的内幕信息，梁诚一分
别在19项审批通过、8项审批否决前购入、做空或卖出上述公司的股票。他的每一次交
易行为都与FDA的审批决定相吻合。
监控软件取证
2011年1月，美国卫生部下属的监察长办公室（HHS-OIG）在梁诚一的工作电脑上安
装了监控软件。1月18日，该软件拍下梁诚一浏览一种名为Viibryd的抗忧郁药物的审批
文件。在几分钟内，梁诚一分别通过几个人头账户购买了该药品申请人Clinical Data
公司4875股股票。
据统计，在1月21日审批公告发布之前，被告人总共购买了48875股该公司的股票，
获利37.9万美元。
Shulman Rogers律师事务所合伙人雅各布•弗伦克尔（Jacob Frenkel）解释
说：“这起案件非常特殊。首先，政府员工利用职务便利进行内幕交易的案件相当罕见
；而SEC起诉联邦政府雇员的前例也是少之又少。梁诚一的行为极大地违背了公众信任
。”
“为了保证美国人民的健康安全，政府给予梁诚一高度的信任，使他有权获知新药
的审批信息。他和他的儿子却一而再、再而三地背叛了这个信任。”美国助理司法部长
兰尼•布鲁尔（Lanny Breuer）说道。
“虽然该起案件不像其他内幕交易案，没有电话录音等的证据，但SEC所掌握的被
告人账户交易记录足够构成强而有力的证据。目前整个案件还处于起步阶段。由于梁诚
一的作案时间相当长，有极高的可能性他曾把这些机密信息透露给其他人进行内幕交易
。目前还不知道SEC是否掌握了相关证据。”弗伦克尔解释说。 | s**u
发帖数: 9035 | 3 A Gaithersburg father and son reaped the benefits of $2.27 million in stock
market profits during the past five years, buying a condominium and two cars
and paying travel bills, loans and taxes, according to the FBI.
The U.S. government submitted a request March 28 that would require Cheng Yi
Liang, 57, and his son Andrew Liang, 25, to forfeit the condo and their
family home and served a warrant March 29 for nine bank accounts tied to the
stock market accounts, Alisa Finelli, a spokeswoman for the Department of
Justice, said Tuesday.
The Liangs were arrested March 29 and charged in U.S. District Court with
conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud, securities fraud and wire
fraud in trading securities of five companies, according to a criminal
complaint filed by FBI Special Agent Christine Windness.
They are accused of using the elder Liang's access to privileged information
at the Food and Drug Administration in Silver Spring, where he worked as a
chemist, to net the profit and avoid significant losses, for a total value
of $3.6 million, according to the complaint.
The two were released on bail March 29; they were required to surrender
their passports to the courts and notify their employers of the charges
against them. They also were prohibited from engaging in financial
transactions of more than $5,000 without approval.
Their preliminary hearing in U.S. District Court is set for April 18.
The Liangs purchased shares in 27 companies using insider trading from
November 2007 to March 2011, Windness wrote in the complaint. More than $800
,000 in proceeds was transferred to the accounts of Cheng Yi Liang and Yi
Zhuge, his wife.
Cheng Yi Liang and Andrew Liang used at least $550,000 to fund a home equity
line of credit secured by Cheng Yi Liang and Yi Zhuge's home, which they
bought for $235,000 in 1996, at the 500 block of Skidmore Boulevard in
Gaithersburg, according to tax records and the civil complaint issued by the
U.S. government.
With $138,000 from the line of credit, on Jan. 5 they bought a condo in the
200 block of West Deer Park Road in the Brighton East Condominium III
complex, according to Maryland tax records and the civil complaint.
The condo was transferred to Andrew Liang as sole owner on Jan. 28.
He is not living there, said Kathy Carpio, who answered the door at the
condo Monday.
Carpio is renting the condominium from him, she said. She knows nothing
about the case, and declined to comment further.
With the stock profits, Andrew Liang also funded his personal IRA account,
paid about $92,193 to the IRS and approximately $11,000 in Maryland state
taxes, purchased two cars and paid travel expenses, according to the
criminal complaint.
FDA ethics
Cheng Yi Liang had worked since 1996 in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation
Research in the Office of New Drug Quality Assessment, where he had access
to lists of new drug applications, according to the criminal complaint. As
of Aug. 29, the FDA was paying him $122,744 a year.
Liang was able to glean information from nonpublic documents in an FDA
internal database from July 2006 to last month, according to prosecutors.
With that information, his son used accounts with online brokers Scottrade
and TD Ameritrade to buy and sell stock in companies with drug review
applications.
If it appeared, through Cheng Yi Liang's research, that the FDA was about to
make a favorable decision on a drug application, the Liangs would buy
stocks ahead of the announcement; when the decision was going to be not
favorable, they would sell, prosecutors said.
The five companies listed in the complaint included two in Maryland: Vanda
Pharmaceuticals in Rockville and now-defunct MiddleBrook Pharmaceuticals,
then in Germantown.
The FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research approved 21 drugs in 2010;
between 23 and 37 applications were submitted annually in the past five
years, according to FDA documents.
Employees of the FDA and other federal agencies are barred from using
nonpublic information from their work for private financial gain, according
to the FDA ethics codes and codes of the Office of Government Ethics.
FDA employees receive one hour of mandatory ethics training within two days
of being employed, said Erica Jefferson, an FDA spokeswoman. Some employees,
such as those required to file public or confidential financial disclosure
reports, are trained annually thereafter.
Cheng Yi Liang was required to submit a Confidential Financial Disclosure
Form, according to the civil complaint.
The form requires an employee to report stock, bonds, IRAs, 401ks and other
financial interests of the employee, his or her spouse, and dependent
children, Jefferson said.
From 2007 through 2010, Liang did not disclose on his forms any stock
positions in the companies involved in the insider trading scheme or the
income earned form that scheme, according to the civil complaint.
"The allegations in the case against Mr. Liang, if true and proven, are
serious and exceedingly rare," Jefferson wrote in an email Monday.
Jefferson would not comment further on the case.
Most biotech and pharmaceutical companies are more concerned with getting
their products approved than whether workers at the FDA are using that
information for personal gain, said Judy Britz, executive director of the
Maryland Biotechnology Center.
"This is an unusual case, an egregious violation of the ethics of anyone
working at the FDA, and it certainly is concerning," she said.
The maximum penalty for conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud is a
five-year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine. The maximum penalty for wire
fraud is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The maximum penalty for
securities fraud is five years in prison and a $5 million fine for each
count.
Attorneys for the Liangs did not return phone calls Tuesday.
A man at Cheng Yi Liang's address Monday, who identified himself as Andrew,
declined to comment.
Staff writer Kristi Tousignant contributed to this report.
j*******[email protected] | I*****y
发帖数: 6402 | | s**u
发帖数: 9035 | 5 发信人: zl609 (zl609), 信区: WaterWorld
标 题: Re: 原上海医科大学药学院Faculty梁誠一被控内幕交易
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Sun Apr 10 21:02:11 2011, 美东)
7-8年前我回国参加一个留学生创业活动，我们组织了一个团。其中就有一个FDA的，我
们当时交换过名片，记得他好像是姓梁。后来在MARYLAND的华人活动中也看见过。
当时很羡慕他的铁饭碗工作。我想做一个公司，技术很好，市场很大，需要投资很少，
结果真是困难重重。
如果真是他，只能感叹世事难料。
梁先生也太不谨慎，实在不应该把自己的儿子拖进去。 | s**u
发帖数: 9035 | 6 发信人: kettle (曼玉喂猪), 信区: Joke
标 题: Re: 原上海医科大学药学院Faculty梁誠一被控内幕交易
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Tue Apr 12 18:25:18 2011, 美东)
这人相当无良啊。以后联邦政府雇佣中国人会更加苛刻了。
发信人: yangyi (佳庭主父), 信区: Joke
标 题: Re: 原上海医科大学药学院Faculty梁誠一被控内幕交易
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Tue Apr 12 23:33:38 2011, 美东)
就为了3.5m?按说fda的挣得也不少吧。 | s**u
发帖数: 9035 | 7 发信人: parkside (antares), 信区: WaterWorld
标 题: Re: 原上海医科大学药学院Faculty梁誠一被控内幕交易
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Fri Apr 15 10:13:59 2011, 美东)
联邦政府雇员工资就是政治正确的产物，体力劳动比如扫地之类的工资比社会平均水平
高，脑力劳动比如搞研究象梁这样的，工资比社会平均水平低，这样整体工资水平不高
，好处是平衡了公众的嫉妒心理，坏处就是留不住人才，让政府机构的工作能力越来越
差，这类违法的事情也会越来越多。
梁这个事是他自己太愚蠢，实际上利用内部消息FDA这类事绝对不少，我参加过一些
consulting company的会，会上某些分析员连FDA的一些审批细节比如下一步
的具体批准日期都能判断到一天不差，这要没有内部消息怎么可能？
梁就是错在太直接了 |
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