Former CytoDyn CEO Nader Pourhassan, Ph.D., has received a 30-month prison sentence, or two and a half years, after being convicted on charges related to defrauding biotech investors.
The ex-CytoDyn chief exec must also forfeit more than $4.4 million—approximately the amount he profited from the scheme—and pay back more than $5.3 million in restitution, according to a Jan. 26 release from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
Pourhassan is known for his decade serving as CytoDyn’s president and CEO until he was ousted by the board in January 2022. In late 2024, the exec was convicted of exaggerating the progress of CytoDyn’s leronlimab—an investigational monoclonal antibody that had undergone studies as a treatment for HIV and COVID-19—and deceiving investors about the status of FDA submissions to boost the biotech’s stock price and reel in new investors.
In its charging documents, the DOJ said the ex-CEO sold 4.8 million shares of CytoDyn stock after making false claims and pocketed $4.4 million.
“Pourhassan exploited a deadly public health crisis to intentionally deceive investors and the public out of millions—all so that he could enrich himself,” U.S. Attorney Kelly Hayes for the District of Maryland said in the Jan. 26 release. “As this sentence makes clear, executives who mislead investors and manipulate the truth for personal gain will be held accountable.”
“Our office will continue to aggressively pursue those who put greed ahead of honesty and the rule of law,” Hayes added.
Pourhassan is still in litigation in a parallel civil suit filed against him.
Meanwhile, Kazem Kazempour, Ph.D., who was tried as Pourhassan’s co-conspirator, has earned himself a new trial independent of the former CytoDyn leader.
Kazempour was formerly the CEO of Amerex, a contract research organization that managed CytoDyn’s trials and interactions with the FDA. Kazempour was also a member of CytoDyn’s disclosure committee, which approves the biotech’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
In December 2024, Kazempour was found guilty of one count of securities fraud and one count of wire fraud. Those convictions have been vacated, according to a release from law firm McGuireWoods.
After his legal team demonstrated “that his convictions in a complex securities fraud case resulted from the prejudicial spillover of evidence that applied only to his co-defendant,” Kazempour will be tried again in a new trial, the firm said.
“A joint trial with Pourhassan unfairly confused the jury and prejudiced Kazempour such that the jury likely convicted him on an insider trading theory, even though he had not been charged with insider trading,” U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis wrote in her opinion cited by McGuireWoods.
Kazempour is also listed as a defendant in the same parallel civil suit as Pourhassan.