Hedge Fund Manager in FDA Insider Trading Case Commits Suicide

Visium Asset Management partner Sanjay Valvani, who was recently arrested and charged with insider trading in a scheme that involved a former FDA Office of Generic Drugs official (see earlier story), has been found dead in an apparent suicide at his New York home. Former FDA Office of Generic Drugs deputy director and now consultant Gordon Johnston has pled guilty and admitted his role in the insider trading scheme that obtained highly confidential and material nonpublic information from a senior FDA official about the status and impending approval of generic enoxaparin (Sanofi-aventis’ blockbuster Lovenox). According to government and court documents, the information that Johnston illegally obtained was passed on to Valvani, who used it to make stock trades in violation of insider trading laws and regulations. Using the illegal information, Valvani reportedly netted $32 million once the stock positions were closed.