WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The former CEO of Emergent BioSolutions, a biopharmaceutical company, is facing accusations of using insider knowledge about COVID-19 vaccine contamination to make over $10 million through stock trades. This comes from a lawsuit filed on Thursday by the New York Attorney General's office.
Robert Kramer, who was in charge when Emergent was tasked by the U.S. government to produce coronavirus vaccines, reportedly sold shares while being aware of serious contamination issues at the company's Baltimore plant. Back in 2021, around 400 million vaccine doses made there were ultimately destroyed.
Per the lawsuit, Kramer sold stock valued at $10.1 million before the manufacturing problems were made public. New York Attorney General Letitia James stated that Kramer was aware of the challenges Emergent faced in producing the AstraZeneca vaccine and took steps to safeguard his personal finances during the pandemic's peak.
The lawsuit claims Kramer was made aware in October 2020 of the contaminated and discarded vaccine batches, shortly before he set up a stock trading plan.
He started selling shares in January 2021, not long before Emergent's stock started a long decline. By April 2021, the FDA had put a permanent stop to production of the AstraZeneca vaccine at that facility.
Emergent has agreed to pay $900,000 in penalties for allowing Kramer's trading plan, but Kramer's lawyer described the lawsuit as unfounded and an overstep.
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