Robert F. Kennedy Jr., tapped by President Donald Trump to lead the Health and Human Services Department, plans to continue collecting fees from a law firm suing a major pharmaceutical company, even if the Senate confirms him, The Hill reported.
Kennedy released his financial disclosure form Wednesday, revealing plans to maintain a fee arrangement with a law firm currently suing American pharmaceutical giant Merck.
According to the disclosure, Kennedy listed investments in companies such as Amazon, Dragonfly Therapeutics, and CRISPR Therapeutics, with values ranging from $1,001 to $50,000.
According to The Hill, he wrote in a letter to Randall Hall, the HHS's designated agency ethics official, that he would divest from those holdings no later than 90 days after his confirmation.
However, Kennedy will continue to receive fees from Wisner Baum, a law firm where he served as co-counsel in litigation against Merck over alleged injuries caused by Gardasil, a vaccine no longer available in the United States.
Kennedy said he was "entitled to receive 10% of fees awarded in contingency fee cases referred to the [Wisner Baum]." He listed $856,559 in income from the firm in cases involving claims against the U.S. under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.
Before starting his work at HHS, Kennedy will receive what he described as "complete and final payments" for concluded cases against the United States.
"Upon confirmation, I will retain an interest in contingency fee cases that do not involve claims against the United States and in which the United States is not a party and does not have a direct and substantial interest," Kennedy disclosed.
"I will divest of my interest in contingency fee cases that involve claims against the United States or in which the United States is a party or has a direct and substantial interest."
Kennedy noted that most of the pending claims at Wisner Baum were related to damages from the Woolsey fire and a small number of deals with Roundup-induced non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
The firm's website quotes Kennedy as saying, "Gardasil has left a calamitous health disaster in its wake."
Kennedy also pledged to "divest my interest to receive payment from all pending contingency fee cases that involve claims against the United States, including any claims filed under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program."
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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