Dr. Robert Taub, renowned oncologist and the director of Columbia’s Mesothelioma Center, which handles asbestos-related cancer, is right in the middle of the multimillion-dollar bribery case against state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver as a key witness, DNAinfo reports.
Apparently a deal was put together that led to Taub referring his patients to Silver’s law firm, Weitz & Luxenberg, in exchange for $500,000 in state money used for research, and Silver even did some favors for the doctor’s family members.
Finding money to fund research on the rare and rarely-survived cancer is not easy to obtain, which is probably why a sketchy financial agreement like this would come about.
US v. Sheldon Silver Complaint
Silver got his payday from the referral exchange – not only with his $120,000 a year salary from the firm, but he also received a third of the firm’s cut from whatever it recovered from settlements or judgments on behalf of the referred clients. Thanks to clients set to him by Taub, he reportedly took in $3 million.
In return, Taub received the $500,000 in grants to the Mesothelioma Center in 2006.
“Silver wants referrals so he can substantially increase his income even without doing a lick of work,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said. “What the doctor wants is money to fund his research at a hospital in New York. It turns out that the doctor is in luck… Sheldon Silver has access to enormous amounts of public money.”
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Taub won’t face any criminal charges for the situation, according to the complaint, because he cooperated as a witness. Silver, on the other hand, will face charges including wire fraud.
He was released on $200,000 bail Thursday, and after the hearing, according to him, he “will be vindicated.”
[Photo from Flickr user Azi Paybarah]
