SEC Charges Former CEO of Biotech Company CytoDyn with Fraud, Insider Trading

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Nader Pourhassan, the former CEO of CytoDyn Inc., with fraud and insider trading in connection with providing misleading information to shareholders about the progress of a clinical research treatment for COVID-19 and HIV. According to the SEC’s complaint, Pourhassan repeatedly issued press releases exaggerating CytoDyn’s progress with regard to leronlimab, an antibody that was administered to patients in clinical trials to treat various diseases. The complaint alleges that, in an April 2020 press release, CytoDyn falsely announced that the company had submitted a completed Biologics License Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration—a key milestone that caused the company’s stock price to increase.