Free Republic

Billionaire Harvard donor Bill Ackman is calling for the resignation and replacement of the school's board, which he says is just as much to blame for its problems as ousted president Claudine Gay.Gay resigned yesterday, finally bowing to calls to stand down a month after her calamitous congressional testimony about campus antisemitism and amid growing accusations of academic plagiarism throughout her scholar career...Unsatisfied with Gay's resignation, he says the school's leadership is so deeply flawed that it requires a total overhaul.'The Corporation Board should not remain in their seats protected by the unusual governance structure which enabled them to obtain...

Infamous former Turing CEO Martin Shkreli and Howard Schiller, the interim chief executive of the pharmaceutical company Valeant, just faced Congress. Legislators on Thursday wanted them to answer for dramatic drug-price increases that affect the lives of Americans. Shkreli caught national attention when his company purchased a lifesaving drug called Daraprim and then raised the price by over 5,000%. Wall Street was closely watching Schiller; Valeant's stock was a darling until accusations of malfeasance from a short seller and government scrutiny over pricing chopped off a quarter of its stock price last year. At the hearing, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland)...

"News that Turing, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. and other drugmakers have bought rights to old, cheap medicines that are the only treatment for serious diseases and then hiked prices severalfold has angered patients. It's triggered government investigations, politicians' proposals to fight "price gouging," heavy media scrutiny and a big slump in biotech stock prices." "Turing's Shkreli, under fire from all sides, said late last month that he would lower the price of Daraprim, but hasn't so far. A Turing spokesman didn't respond to a request for comment Thursday but recently noted the company is capping patient copayments at $10."

Seventeen years after it was withdrawn from U.S. markets, a synthetic version of the active ingredient in marijuana is going back on sale as a prescription treatment for the vomiting and nausea that often accompany chemotherapy, the drug's manufacturer said Tuesday. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International hopes to begin selling Cesamet in the next two to three weeks, company president Wes Wheeler said. The Costa Mesa, California, company received Food and Drug Administration approval Monday to resume sales of the drug, which it bought from Eli Lilly and Co. in 2004. Valeant currently sells the drug, also called nabilone, in Canada. Lilly...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Herbalife Ltd. (HLF) said on Sunday it had halted sales of one of its products in Israel amid an investigation by Israel's Health Ministry over complaints from customers that it caused liver problems. Yona Fichman, general manager of Herbalife Israel, said the company was cooperating with the ministry even though there had yet to be a link between the product and what he called abnormal liver test results. A health ministry spokeswoman said eight people reported liver problems over a year and a half, five of whom had consumed Herbalife's Sesame Herb product. She noted that there...

Here come the hyper-partisan hounds. A new nonprofit called American Oversight launched this week to combat President Trump's "culture of impunity." The outfit declared itself "nonpartisan" and claims its crusaders will fight for a "transparent and ethical government." But like Waylon Jennings once crooned, "Baby, that dog won't hunt." These Democrat operatives aren't interested in accountability. Their mission is to attack, obstruct and destroy their political opponents at all costs. Executive Director and Obama donor Austin Evers is certainly familiar with the "culture of impunity." He worked as a lawyer at Williams and Connolly -- the firm representing Hillary Clinton...

Shares of Herbalife Ltd. suffered their biggest loss in more than a year Friday following a report that criminal authorities are investigating the Los Angeles nutritional products company. The FBI has launched a criminal investigation of Herbalife and its web of independent distributors, a federal law enforcement source told The Times. A federal law enforcement official in New York confirmed Friday that the FBI had opened an inquiry into Herbalife but did not know first-hand the extent of the investigation. “I can’t give any guidance on where it’s headed,” the official said. …

Is this George Soros and Carl Icahn-backed firm running a "pyramid scheme"? 13 March 2014 | By Sophie Hobson George Soros and Carl Icahn both hold stakes in it, but controversial US firm Herbalife has come under consistent fire from rival investor William Ackman over its allegedly dubious operations. Now it’s being investigated by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over claims it might be running a “pyramid scheme”. The key accusation against Herbalife, which makes weight loss and nutritional supplements and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, is that it makes most of its money from signing...

Former Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano, who is awaiting a federal trial on wiretapping and racketeering charges, has been sued by executors for the estate of the late Herbalife International founder Mark Hughes. The federal lawsuit claims that Pellicano wiretapped the executive on behalf of his former wife, Suzan Hughes, while the couple was going through a divorce. The complaint alleges that Suzan Hughes used information from Pellicano's alleged wiretaps to negotiate a "highly advantageous" divorce settlement in march 1998. Hughes, who built Herbalife into a billion-dollar nutritional supplement business, died in 2000 from a drug and alcohol overdose. Besides...

In this episode of “Here’s All You Need to Know About the So-Called ‘Mainstream’ Media”…Liberal-“leaning” billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, said on Thursday he was contacted by the media and asked if his Twitter account had been hacked after he posted a series of tweets in defense of Kyle Rittenhouse, the now 18-year-old on trial for murder in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Rittenhouse was 17 at the time of the two alleged murders.Before we continue, here’s the thing. The “why” I chose to write this article.First, it’s not about Bill Ackman. Who’s Bill...

In his retirement, former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has decided to enter the exciting world of multi-level marketing, taking on a new role as adviser to Herbalife, the Amway of nutritional supplements. The move comes as Herbalife hires lobbyists and gears up for a battle on Capitol Hill over its business model. Congresswoman Linda Sanchez has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether the company is actually operating as a pyramid scheme. villaraigosaherbalife2.jpg Wikipedia Another silly photoshop image Herbalife looks to be signing up Democrats who might have some sway with the Obama administration. Today, the New York Post...

One down, two to go. Bill Ackman appears to have a scorecard tracking which college presidents lose their jobs for their congressional statements on on-campus antisemitism, and now he's training his full fire on the two university leaders who remain. (excerpt) And Ackman's quest seems to be picking up after Liz Magill, president of the University of Pennsylvania, resigned from her position on Saturday. On Sunday, Ackman penned an open letter to Harvard's governing boards of directors, where he reiterated his call for Claudine Gay to be removed. "In her short tenure as President, Claudine Gay has done more damage...

Bill Ackman has claimed that Harvard president Claudine Gay was only appointed because she fitted the DEI office's criteria, after her shameful refusal to denounce campus protests calling for a Jewish genocide. The 57-year-old billionaire hedge funder has been heavily involved in the debate after expressing his views about Gay clearly on social media and calling for her resignation.

Dear President Gay,I am writing this letter to you regretfully. Never did I think I would have to write a letter to the president of my alma mater about the impact of her actions and inactions on the health and safety of its student body in order to help catalyze necessary change. For the past four weeks since the horrors of October 7th, I have been in dialogue with members of the corporation board, other alumni, as well as students and faculty sharing and comparing our concerns about the growing number of antisemitic incidents on campus, as we wait for...

November 4, 2023 Dear President Gay, I am writing this letter to you regretfully. Never did I think I would have to write a letter to the president of my alma mater about the impact of her actions and inactions on the health and safety of its student body in order to help catalyze necessary change. For the past four weeks since the horrors of October 7th, I have been in dialogue with members of the corporation board, other alumni, as well as students and faculty sharing and comparing our concerns about the growing number of antisemitic incidents on campus,...

Bill Ackman has doubled down on his push to have companies refuse employment opportunities to the Harvard students who signed a letter blaming Israel for Hamas’ violent attack that killed more than 1,200 people over the weekend. The hedge fund billionaire who founded Pershing Square Capital Management held his ground after a Harvard law student slammed him for “harassment” in response to a social media post on X in which he demanded a list of the signatories of the controversial letter. “If you were managing a business, would you hire someone who blamed the despicable violent acts of a terrorist...

Over a dozen business executives are joining the call to blacklist the Harvard students who put out a statement that blamed Israel for the Hamas attack, while the group whined about being persecuted in the aftermath. CEOs from EasyHealth, Belong, FabFitFun, Inspired, DoveHill and many more joined billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman in the charge of outing the members of 31 student organizations who issued the statement on Sunday. Ackman said, 'One should not be able to hide behind a corporate shield when issuing statements supporting the actions of terrorists, who, we now learn, have beheaded babies, among other...

At least a dozen business executives have endorsed Bill Ackman’s call to deny hiring members of student groups at Harvard who signed on to a letter blaming Israel for Hamas’ deadly attack on Saturday that killed more than 1,200 people, including at least 22 Americans. Jonathan Newman, the CEO of salad chain Sweetgreen, was among a group of business honchos who seconded Ackman in urging that the signatories of the letter circulated by the a coalition of 34 Harvard student groups who “hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.” “I would like to know so I know...

Bill Ackman wants Harvard University to release a list of the members of the dozens of student groups who signed a letter blaming Israel for Hamas’ violent assault over the weekend so as to make sure they don’t work on Wall Street. “I have been asked by a number of CEOs if Harvard would release a list of the members of each of the Harvard organizations that have issued the letter assigning sole responsibility for Hamas’ heinous acts to Israel, so as to insure that none of us inadvertently hire any of their members,”

Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman is forecasting 'economic meltdown' within hours of the banks opening up on Monday morning following the failure of Silicon Valley Bank. Ackman is urging for the U.S. government to finally step in and protect all of the bank's depositors, warning inaction could lead to a ripple effect across other smaller banks within the industry. The worry is that customers will rush to withdraw cash from their accounts fearing instability across the banking system with the very real possibility of a domino effect.