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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

TERRY ASTON, Baltimore, Maryland and JOHN FRATTI, Hummelstown, Pennsylvania and LINDA MARTIN, Phoenix, Arizona and DAVID MELVIN, Chatsworth, Illinois and JENNIFER WILCOX, Oroville, California Plaintiffs, v. JOHNSON & JOHNSON, One Johnson & Johnson Plaza  New Brunswick, New Jersey 08933 and JOHNSON & JOHNSON PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT, L.L.C., 920 Route 202 South P.O. Box 300 Mail Stop 2628 Raritan, New Jersey 08869 and ORTHO-MCNEIL-JANSSEN PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.,

AMENDED COMPLAINT

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2 1000 Route 202 South P.O. Box 300 Raritan, New Jersey 08869 and RENAISSANCE TECHNOLOGIES, L.L.C., 800 Third Avenue  New York, New York 10022 and PETER F. BROWN, Georgetown, Washington, D.C. and ROBERT L. MERCER, 800 Third Avenue  New York, New York 10022 and JAMES H. SIMONS, 800 Third Avenue  New York, New York 10022 and DR. MARGARET A. HAMBURG Georgetown, Washington, D.C. Defendants.

I.

 

INTRODUCTION

This Amended Complaint sets forth allegations that involve a conspiracy by Defendants, each and every one of them, to reap large financial returns by failing to disclose to Plaintiffs and the public at large the full extent of the devastating, life-threatening, and deadly effects of a highly dangerous pharmaceutical drug named Levaquin. Specifically, on or about May of 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg as a political appointee to become

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3 Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”). On information and belief, Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg was nominated as a result of huge political and other gratuities to Hillary Clinton and The Clinton Foundation, and at Mrs. Clinton’s recommendation. During the confirmation process before Congress, Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg, acting in concert with her husband, Peter F. Brown and the other Defendants named in this Amended Complaint, at all material times the Co-CEO of a hedge fund named Renaissance Technologies, L.L.C., failed to disclose to Congress and other relevant authorities, her and her husband’s clear-cut conflict of interest –specifically, that Renaissance Technologies, L.L.C. held hundreds of millions of dollars of Johnson & Johnson stock, the manufacturer of the deadly drug, Levaquin. Once confirmed as FDA Commissioner, Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg acted as the instrumentality that all Defendants used to perpetrate their conspiracy and racketeering enterprise  by having her act illegally and outside the scope of her authority as FDA Commissioner to suppress material information to Plaintiffs and the public that Levaquin was inherently dangerous and in fact, deadly. Had this information been disclosed to Plaintiffs and the public at large, her and her husband’s financial gain and net worth would have plummeted, since Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg’s husband, Peter F. Brown, reaped and continues to reap huge financial gain as a result of Renaissance Technologies, L.L.C.’s holdings of Johnson & Johnson stock. To further this conspiracy, Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg, acting in concert with each and every Defendant, jointly and severally, appointed officials of Johnson & Johnson to key FDA Advisory Committees and colluded with Johnson & Johnson and its officials and subsidiaries to suppress information about the dangerous and deadly effects of Levaquin. As a result, during Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg’s tenure as FDA Commissioner from 2009 to 2015, over 5,000 people

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