RFK Jr. made $856,559 in referral charges from the legislation agency Wisner Baum, which is suing Merck over claims its HPV vaccine prompted cervical most cancers, in keeping with new filings with the Workplace of Authorities Ethics.
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Even when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is confirmed as the subsequent Well being and Human Companies secretary, he nonetheless plans to gather charges from Wisner Baum, a legislation agency suing Merck over claims that the pharmaceutical firm did not correctly warn customers about dangers from its HPV vaccine, Gardasil, in keeping with new filings with the Workplace of Authorities Ethics.
Kennedy will solely accumulate the charges if Wisner Baum wins, and just for instances that are not towards the USA or through which the USA is not a celebration and would not have “a direct or substantial curiosity,” in keeping with the filings.
“Pursuant to the referral settlement, I’m entitled to obtain 10% of charges awarded in contingency price instances referred to the agency,” Kennedy wrote in his signed ethics settlement. “I’m not attempting these instances, I’m not an lawyer of file for the instances, and I cannot present representational providers in reference to the instances throughout my appointment to the place of Secretary.”
The filings, submitted to the U.S. Workplace of Authorities Ethics as a part of the affirmation course of, element Kennedy’s many monetary holdings and pursuits. If he turns into HHS secretary and continues to gather charges, he could be able to doubtlessly revenue from vaccine litigation whereas additionally regulating drugmakers and exercising authority over federal vaccine coverage.
“RFK Jr’s ethics settlement is insufficient as a result of it would not handle the bias created by his persevering with monetary curiosity within the litigation towards Merck,” Kathleen Clark, a legislation professor at Washington College in St. Louis who makes a speciality of authorities ethics wrote to NPR.
Neither a spokeswoman for Kennedy nor the Trump transition group instantly returned repeated requests for remark.
The paperwork and their hyperlink to the Gardasil vaccine lawsuit have been first reported by The New York Occasions.
The Senate Finance Committee has scheduled a listening to on Wednesday, Jan. 29, to think about Kennedy’s nomination to run HHS.
In Kennedy’s profile web page on Wisner Baum’s web site, he’s first recognized as “co-counsel with Wisner Baum within the Gardasil litigation,” and he has used his platforms on social media and thru his nonprofit to promote the go well with and his considerations with the vaccine towards the human papillomavirus.
HPV is a quite common sexually transmitted virus that may cause cancers later in life. The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention recommends two doses of HPV vaccine at ages 11 to 12 and says it gives secure, efficient and lasting safety towards HPV infections.
In line with Kennedy’s private monetary disclosure report, he made $856,559 in referral charges from the legislation agency. That is along with $326,056 in wage and advantages he earned from the nonprofit Youngsters’s Well being Protection, a corporation Kennedy chaired and that has been influential within the anti-vaccine motion. The nonprofit has filed practically 30 federal and state lawsuits since 2020, together with some that concentrate on the federal companies he would oversee at HHS. Lots of the authorized actions taken by CHD challenged vaccines and public well being mandates.
The submitting says Kennedy took an unpaid go away of absence from the group in April 2023, when he declared his run for the presidency, and that he resigned from CHD efficient December 2024.
The submitting additionally exhibits Kennedy declared a $8,848,402 share of partnership earnings from the legislation agency Kennedy and Madonna, LLP, which has been renamed Madonna and Madonna, LLP. The submitting says he obtained his “ultimate partnership payout in Could 2024.” He additionally made cash from one other legislation agency, publishing and numerous different charges for talking and endorsements.
Edited by Scott Hensley and Jane Greenhalgh