Biotech exec charged with lying about having cancer

September 24, 2008 03:50 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By Globe Staff

A former executive at a Cambridge biotech company has been indicted on a charge that he falsely claimed to a federal judge that he had terminal cancer, prosecutors said today.

Howard P. Richman, 57, of Pearland, Texas, was the former senior vice president of regulatory affairs at the Biopure Corp. He faces one count of obstruction of justice. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison.

Prosecutors allege that from Oct. 26, 2006 through July 17, 2007 Richman falsely represented to a federal judge that he was terminally ill with colon cancer. Richman allegedly said that because of his illness he could not participate in a civil case brought against him by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

To support his lie, Richman provided the court with phony affidavits and fabricated letters from a physician, prosecutors said.

Richman hoped that his charade would keep him from having to disclose information for the lawsuit and would help him obtain a favorable settlement, avoiding a substantial fine, prosecutors said.

The alleged scheme worked. The judge on July 2007 effectively ended the Biopure case against Richman without him having to give up any further information and canceled a trial date, according to the indictment.

The SEC filed a suit in 2005 alleging that Biopure and several of its officers and directors engaged in a scheme to misrepresent and conceal from investors the truth about its application for FDA approval of a drug.

Richman's attorney, Thomas Dwyer, didn't immediately return a message seeking comment.