He cheated on the COVID-19 pandemic. He got 7 years to serve
Keith Berman, former CEO of US biotechnology company Decision Diagnostics, was sentenced to seven years in prison for falsely promising a quick and accurate COVID-19 test. The verdict was announced on Friday by the US Department of Justice.
It offered a groundbreaking COVID-19 test
Berman, 70 years old and from Westlake Village, California, pleaded guilty to securities fraud charges last December. These frauds amounted to approx $28 million.
According to the Department of Justice, from February to December 2020, Berman falsely claimed his company had developed a 15-second test to detect COVID-19 from a blood sample taken from a finger prick, when in fact such a test has never existed.
The fraud was discovered in 2020
Nicole Argentieri, head of the Justice Department's criminal division, said in a statement Berman defrauded investors in an attempt to profit from the pandemic. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Berman and his company already in December 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic was a tragedy for hundreds of millions of people around the world and an opportunity for many companies to develop dynamically. Although there were many examples of positive and even heroic attitudes during this crisis, there were also those who were guided only by private interests. This is certainly not the last pandemic verdict we will hear about.
