My Turn - Achieving the American Dream

by Jonathan Williams

  Chapter 9

  “Drug Approval”

  With the denial from the FDA, Biokinz’s stock is not worth much, which means there will be more layoffs and the ones remaining will get more shares. Chris also starts to see talk in the online communications about the layoffs but doesn’t see his name anywhere. So it’s not a surprise when the official layoff list is made public and he’s not on it. He’s also given a considerable amount of shares. He knows he had a much better chance of making the cut given the fact that he’s a “team” player now and that it’s also a critical time for the company.

  Based on what he’s learned, he wonders if there are any executives in the corporate world who are honest. And is this the culture the corporate world embraces? He tries not to think about it but the thoughts just keep coming.

  “So if an auditor comes in and asks to see your audit trails on the Drug Safety System, and you know something was changed, how would you word it?” Chris asks Paul this because he knows something’s been changed.

  “Ah. Those things happen. Okay, so let’s say I’m the auditor. ‘Chris, we noticed there’s a record missing from the audit trail. Do you guys have a change control reflecting why this record was deleted?’”

  “I don’t know. I’ll need to check.”

  “Well, that’s a good first step. If you’re unsure of how to respond to a question, then buy yourself some more time. There’s nothing wrong with asking for more time, and it gives you time to frame a response. Keep in mind that there’s no time limit in responding to an auditor’s request. You can acknowledge it right then or you can say you need to look into it. They’re here for one reason and that’s to try and break you.”

  “Okay, so I buy more time. What’s next?”

  “Well you’re going to have to either come up with a change control form as per our company policy or some sort of approval for a record being deleted.”

  “That’ll be hard.”

  “What’s so difficult about it? We just did it when we fabricated that email in the last audit. Listen, we all want the company to do well. It’s not as hard as you think. So we can do this several ways. We can fabricate an email approval or retroactively date a change control form. Usually the email works better, though, and folks feel more comfortable with an email approval rather than having to sign-off on a form.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.”

  “All good?”

  “All good.”

  Whatever direction it takes, auditors never really go that deep into the systems anyway. It only happens if there’s something suspicious. Chris isn’t sure how far auditors can delve into systems though. A break in a sequence number is certainly a red flag. But as a DBA, there are ways around it and one can always switch off auditing and re-seed the sequences. Sequences are numbers that automatically count the number of records. For the most part, people can remove the electronic finger print when this kind of change has been made.

  The MAA, Marketing Authorization Application, is the only chance for Biokinz, and based on what’s transpired, there’s no question that the company is going to get MAA approval. They’re already in the hole financially, and there’s no other option. And because they’re already tampering with data related to the DOJ, then manipulating data for the MAA would be a given. There’s just too much at stake for those holding blocks of shares for failure. Honesty and integrity are preached but there’s no time for that. Let the little guys below live in their fantasy world. The risk of getting caught in some unethical behavior is worth the return.

  About four months after the FDA denies Biokinz’s employees their money, the European Union comes through, and they approve the drug. As Paul said, they take the second-hand product. Chris also believes that they may have framed a different picture of what was presented to the MAA. But in the end, it’s the same drug that was not approved by the FDA. That’s the beauty. If you can’t sell a product domestically, export it. It’s sometimes referred to as “enlightened journalism.” It’s the same concept with many drug studies, they “enlighten” them. Or maybe a small number in the study is changed but, regardless, the money is on its way. More importantly, Chris’s money is on the way.

  The stock quadruples. For being a little guy, he’s looking at about a half million dollars, and it will only continue to go up, not bad for a low-level manager who’s relatively new to the company. Now this may not be much to others, but when you’re living paycheck to paycheck, it’s a fortune to him. His turn has finally arrived!

  Others at the company are elated, too. Everyone is smiles and morale is high. Chris started in the biotech industry thinking he was going to enhance people’s lives. He really hoped he was going to make a positive difference in the world. But now, he doesn’t even think about the patients who are suffering. Is there anyone here who is? All he can think about is the amount of money he just made, and he’s deliriously happy because of it.

  The company throws a party for this positive turn of events. As Chris scans the room, he sees that most of the employees are unusually cheerful, too. It’s also not a surprise when the CEO speaks that he talks about how much they’ve supposedly helped the patients.

  One comment that surfaces internally around Biokinz, which most employees think is true, is that the drug may actually be a hoax. If this is the case, then the patients don’t factor into the equation at all. Given the environment, it’s also common knowledge that some framing has been going on upstairs. So, like the majority of people at the company, Chris already had a hunch that the drug wasn’t going to do much. So is it wrong to be happy that they just made a tremendous amount of money? In some people’s minds, the goal was always to make money regardless of what it took. As a result, if this objective was met, then a celebration is in order!

  “Is this what he had to do to get ahead in life?” Chris asks himself. He’s going on a date with a girl, who he’s had his eye on since the first time he saw her, and with the thought that he could be a millionaire soon. All of this because of framing; life is good!

  He goes home in a great mood and starts to think about how he’s going to spend the money. On a small scale, he’s definitely going to pick up a bottle of McAllen 25, his favorite single malt Scotch. He’s been eyeing it for years. But, after giving the money some thought, he doesn’t think a half million is much, in comparison with others. They just got drug approval in Europe for a billion dollar drug, and that’s all he received for his efforts. He’s sure the big executives upstairs are making millions of dollars each. He played his part so maybe he deserves more money, too.

  Before getting too carried away, though, he wants to confirm who’s making what. So the next day he checks the numbers again. He sees that department leads made the most amount of money in this transaction. But for his participation, Chris sees that he’s at the bottom of the list. Paul made more than ten million. In the grand scheme of things, he now thinks that a half million dollars is nothing.

  He knows it was a collective effort among management to bend the truth to get the drug approved, but he’s not satisfied. He wants more. And that damn thought about putting a keyboard-logger on the CEO comes back into his mind. It’s one thing to read the CEO’s corporate email like Paul’s doing, but logging is taking it to a whole new level. Chris knows he will get into tremendous trouble if he’s caught. It’s the CEO that he’s thinking about estaking. On the other hand, the CEO is aware that they’re doing it everywhere else in the company. In fact, he’s the one that’s been asking for information on their lead scientist. As Chris thinks about it, he realizes that the worst that can happen is that he would lose his job. But, if that happened, he’s confident that he can easily get another one. So is it worth the risk? That’s a no brainer, he thinks. It definitely is. If people are gambling on getting in deep water with the DOJ, SEC, and the FDA, just to name a few, he calculates that losing a measly managerial job is worth the risk.

  Chris knows that the CEO’s laptop comes down to the Helpdesk every
so often for maintenance or repairs. So he asks Tony to let him know when it does. Tony also knows Chris’s plans, but it’s never discussed.

  About five weeks later, the CEO’s laptop comes in for some fixes. Chris is about to install the keyboard-logger but, to his surprise, sees that there’s already one installed. So someone else had the same idea and is already estaking the CEO. All he has to do now is grab the results, which puts him in a much better position if something goes awry. At least he thinks so anyway. He has to be careful to not inquire about the keyoard-logger. He’s not sure who installed it, and if he asks someone who didn’t do it that would be one more person who knows that it is installed.

  Because the stock continues to climb, he’s now getting close to making three quarters of a million dollars but he’s still not satisfied. He wants more of the “American dream.” Yet, as time goes by, the dream is getting more and more expensive. America is growing in its number of millionaires, and Chris doesn’t want to be at the bottom of this list. Greed is good, he tells himself.

  Sure he got sucked in. But, in this day and age, many people in corporate America do. It makes him think of an Indian tribe that was discovered a handful of years ago in Brazil located near the border of Peru. Classified as the last “free” people on earth, they had no contact with the outside world. But for everyone else on the planet, it’s a rat race.

  Madoff is a good example. If only he had stopped at 25 billion, he could have lived his remaining years outside the cage. And when the puzzle was finally put together by the authorities, they wouldn’t have been able to prosecute him buried 10 feet under. It’s the same game that the drug cartel and the government play. Do whatever it takes to make as much money as possible without letting it get out of control, and by the time it comes to fruition, the person pulling the strings will be long gone.

  Most leaders of countries are lucky in that the majority of people they govern are ignorant to these kinds of situations. They’re also well protected by laws to help prevent them from getting prosecuted.