It looks like Andy Stern’s get-rich-quick scheme in the bio-warfare
industry has hit a bit of a snag. Last week, the chairwoman of a U.S. Senate
subcommittee asked the Inspector General to investigate a $433-million, no-bid
contract awarded to Andy’s company, SIGA Technologies.
The request
from the Democratic senator was first reported in the Los
Angeles Times. Here’s an excerpt from an ABC
News article:
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., says the five-year contract from the Department of Health and Human Services to Siga Technologies – a New York company run by a major Democratic donor — raises questions about a conflict of interest and the potential waste of precious taxpayer funds.In a letter to HHS inspector general Daniel Levinson on Monday, McCaskill expressed worry over the hefty price of the drug (reportedly $255 per dose) because the company had not been not forced to compete for the contract. She also noted that the drug itself, known as ST-246, may not be effective since it has a short shelf-life and hasn’t been tested on humans.
What’s Andy Stern’s role in this unfolding scandal? Well, as
Tasty reported in earlier
posts, Stern was apparently appointed to the company’s board of directors so he
could use his SEIU rolodex to “dial for dollars”… or in this case, a $433
million government contract.
So, as Andy sorts through the last of his Thanksgiving
leftovers, Tasty is hoping he’ll soon find a shiny government subpoena in his
mailbox! If so, here are a few questions that investigators might wanna ask:
- Did Andy use his position as “SEIU President Emeritus” to gain access to top government decision-makers in order to help SIGA win the massive no-bid contract?
- Did Ron Perelman, the main owner of SIGA Technologies, put Andy on SIGA’s board of directors (and give him 35,000 stock options) as payback for an earlier deal between the two men… when Stern reportedly sold out thousands of security guards employed by AlliedBarton, another company owned by Perelman?
- How much money does King Andy stand to make as a result of SIGA’s
$433 million contract?
Stay tuned!
