Former head of FDA under criminal investigation

[kurth]

April 29, 2006
Report: Ex-Head of FDA Under Investigation

NEW YORK (AP) -- The former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration is under federal investigation amid accusations of financial improprieties and making false statements to Congress, a newspaper reported Saturday.

The New York Times, citing attorney Barbara Van Gelder, said a grand jury has begun a criminal investigation of Lester Crawford. She declined further comment. Van Gelder told a federal magistrate in a telephone hearing Thursday that she would instruct Crawford to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination if ordered to answer questions about his actions as head of the FDA, a transcript of the hearing shows.

Crawford resigned in September, two months after the Senate confirmed him, saying it was time for someone else to lead the agency. He had been acting commissioner for more than a year. A month before he resigned, Crawford sold more than $50,000 in shares in a company regulated by the agency, according to financial disclosure forms obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act. He has since joined a Washington lobbying firm, Policy Directions Inc.

The criminal investigation was disclosed at a court hearing in a lawsuit over the FDA's actions on emergency contraceptive pills, a subject of dispute during Crawford's tenure...

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Ex-FDA-Chief.html

[librechik]

1. shoplifting at Target? Or fixing the phone bank? Dealin Drugs?

ooooh, another criminal BushCo crony gets frogmarched. More popcorn please.

[C_U_L8R]

2. Another Bush croney bites the dust

Bush sure does surround himself with crooks.

[glitch]

3. Another episode in the soap opera of corruption aka the republican partynt

[peekaloo]

4. I see the "streak of bad luck" continues.

HA!

[mandyky]

5. So, how many does this make?

What percentage of *'s cabinet members have been investigated? Criminally or by further IG investigations?

Let's do a running tally:
Bought endorsement - think Armstrong Willaims and NCLB
Government propoganda disguised as Public Service Announcements or spread via contractors (think Lincoln Group)
Torture and Prisoner Treatment
NSA wiretapping


There are probably many more, but right now I am on outrage overload and having a major panic attack.
Just how the F%^$#&*@ HELL are we gonna figure out what has been done and fix it? Jesus H Christ on a pogo stick!

[eppur_se_muova]

6. The RCOC writhes again. nt