COVID vaccine execs hyped vague data to cash in $90M in stock, watchdog says

Enlarge / Moderna Inc. headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (credit: Getty | Bloomberg)

An anti-corruption watchdog is pressing the US Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate executives of the biotech company Moderna after they cashed in about $90 million in company shares days after promoting positive" but vague data from its early COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial.

The watchdog group, Accountable.US, called the timing of the trades suspicious and questioned whether executives coordinated their stock sales prior to the data release.

In a letter to the SEC that was released to CBS Moneywatch, Accountable.US President Kyle Herrig wrote, "This misconduct was particularly egregious because it involved not only financial fraud and manipulation of the financial markets, but also because it exploited widespread fears surrounding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic." In all, the executives' exploitation served to "boost the company's value, as well as their own bank accounts.

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