The Cell Game: Sam Waksal's Fast Money and False Promises--And the Fate of Imclone's Cancer Drug
The Cell Game: Sam Waksal's Fast Money and False Promises–And the Fate of Imclone's Cancer Drug by Alex Prud'homme
English | Feb. 2004 | ISBN: 0060555564 | 412 Pages | PDF | 2 MB
English | Feb. 2004 | ISBN: 0060555564 | 412 Pages | PDF | 2 MB
At 9:01 A.M. on December 27, 2001, an unemployed, 27-year-old actress named Aliza Waksal sold 39,472 shares of a small Manhattan biotech firm called ImClone Systems, Inc. It netted her some $2.5 million. At 9:41 A.M., Jack Waksal, Aliza’s 80-year-old grandfather, sold approximately 111,336 shares of ImClone, for about $7 million. Both trades had been allegedly prompted by Sam Waksal, who was Aliza’s father and Jack’s son; he was also the cofounder and CEO of ImClone. A short while later, Sam attempted to transfer an additional 79,797 shares of his own ImClone holdings—worth some $5 million—into his daughter’s Merrill Lynch account for another sale. His instructions said the stock transfer was “urgent” and “imperative.” But Merrill compliance officers grew wary. This was not normal behavior for a CEO and his family. Because Sam was a company insider, his second trade in Aliza’s name was denied. It didn’t take long for word of this activity to filter into Wall Street, where the rumor mill reported something fishy at ImClone Systems.