By Elias Schisgall
New York Attorney General Letitia James filed suit against the former head of Emergent BioSolutions, accusing him of insider trading for selling his shares in the company before disclosing contamination issues in its production of the Covid-19 vaccine.
Robert Kramer, who retired as chief executive officer in 2023, made $10.1 million from the sale of his shares months after learning about--and before publicly disclosing--production problems the company was facing, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in state court. Kramer is accused of violating the Martin Act, which forbids company insiders from trading stock while possessing material non-public information, James said.
"At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Robert Kramer illegally profited millions by selling his company shares, while knowing that Emergent faced issues producing the AstraZeneca vaccine for millions of people," James said in a statement. "Kramer's actions were illegal and unethical, and we are holding him accountable."
James is seeking damages, disgorgement, and costs from Kramer. Separately, James said a settlement was reached with Emergent for the company to pay $900,000 in penalties and improve its executive trading policies.
Kramer could not immediately be reached for comment. Emergent did not respond to a request for comment.
A drug manufacturer based in Gaithersburg, Md., Emergent signed a contract to manufacture AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine in the summer of 2020 worth $261 million. Disclosure of that deal contributed to a 44% climb in Emergent's stock price to $136.49 per share from $94.99, James said.
Separately, the company also signed a $480 million contract with Johnson & Johnson to manufacture its Covid-19 vaccine, and received a $628 million task order from the Health and Human Services Department for vaccine production.
Executives learned in October 2020 that batches of AstraZeneca's vaccine had to be aborted and were contaminated due to production issues. An executive vice president gave Kramer a copy of a presentation including slides about the contaminated vaccine batches on Oct. 6, the attorney general said.
A week later, the company concluded that multiple batches would likely need to be discarded due to contamination issues.
The following day Kramer asked his investment advisor to implement a stock trading plan to sell a portion of his shares, James said.
The company had discussed the significance of its contract with AstraZeneca in filings and investor calls in early November, but omitted information about the contamination at the plant, James said.
Emergent approved Kramer's stock trading plan on Nov. 13, and his shares were sold throughout January and February 2021. Shortly after the sales were completed on Feb. 8, "the market price of Emergent stock began to decline consistently, and has not recovered since," James said.
Write to Elias Schisgall at elias.schisgall@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 15, 2026 12:34 ET (17:34 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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