Some people claim a book is being written about his story, and former reps and employees have been going on about him, telling memories right here for the last few years.
There is hate and love (a bit too much love according to some) and very little in between, just like any Shakespearean drama.
It all started with a story in BusinessWeek, later he was arrested by federal authorities and charged with 35 counts, including fraud and tax evasion. Astra sued him, claiming he sexually harassed and intimidated employees, destroyed documents and records, and concocted "tales of conspiracy involving ex-KGB agents and competitors...in a last-ditch effort to distract attention from the real wrongdoer; Bildman himself." The suit also said he used company funds to rent yachts and pay for prostitutes.
Bildman plead guilty to failing to report over $1 million in income and agreed to serve 21 months in a federal prison. He also had to pay the government more than $ 300,000 in back taxes and interest.
Massachusetts’ highest court yesterday ruled that the former chief executive of Westborough pharmaceutical company Astra USA Inc. must forfeit nearly $7 million in salary and bonuses he collected from 1991 through 1996, when he was fired for harassing female employees and misappropriating company funds.
Reversing the decision of a lower court judge, who ruled Astra could not recover compensation paid to Lars Bildman, the Supreme Judicial Court opinion cited the law of New York state, where Astra was incorporated, pertaining to corporate officers who breach their fiduciary duty.
In a 21-page decision, the state’s high court justices said New York’s “faithless servant’’ doctrine allows the company to go after $5.6 million in salary and $1.2 million in bonuses paid to Bildman.
The decision upheld Suffolk Superior Court Judge Margaret Hinkle on several other issues in the long-running litigation, but its reversal on the forfeiture question appeared to close the curtain on the high-profile sexual harassment and embezzlement case.
Company attorney Jeff Robbins, a partner at Boston law firm Mintz Levin, hailed the high court’s decision to force Bildman to forfeit his compensation. Robbins said the ruling was not only important in Massachusetts and New York, but could set a national precedent if other states embrace New York’s forfeiture standard.
“Given the prominence of this case and given the forcefulness of the court’s ruling, this is a holding that could have national significance in the area of forfeiture law,’’ he said.
Robbins represented Astra’s successor company - drug maker AstraZeneca, based in England - before the Supreme Judicial Court. AstraZeneca was formed through a 1999 merger between Britain’s Zeneca Group PLC and Sweden’s Astra AB, the parent of Astra USA.
Corporate boards face mounting pressure to crack down on executives who breach their fiduciary duty, said Thomas C. Kohler, a Boston College law professor. He said courts are likely to see more cases of companies trying to recoup compensation from wrongdoers.
“This is going to become an issue of greater and greater import,’’ Kohler said. “This decision in Massachusetts may give other courts a framework for ruling on similar kinds of cases. But what one state does is not necessarily of pressing interest to other states.’’
At the US office of AstraZeneca in Wilmington, Del., spokeswoman Laura Woodin said the court ruling “validates the actions of Astra USA to hold its former executive accountable for his conduct and allows our company to move forward.’’
Bildman, the Swedish-born executive at the center of the case, yesterday said he is retired and living in Vermont on Social Security. He said his wife divorced him as a result of the case and that he has spent nearly all the money he earned defending himself in court.
“Of course I am disappointed,’’ Bildman said. “It would be impossible not to be disappointed. The money doesn’t concern me at all. I have no money, so it will be uncollectable.’’
Michael D. Weisman, attorney for Bildman, said he could not discuss the ruling in detail until he had conferred with his client. But he noted that the court upheld lower court rulings that awarded Bildman about $200,000 in damages in connection with a stock grant, prevented Astra from rescinding an employment agreement with him, and held that his client did not have to pay the costs of Astra’s investigation.
“I’m grateful that the court reaffirmed many of the important issues in which Bildman prevailed in the court below,’’ said Weisman, a partner at the Boston law firm of Weisman & McIntyre.
Bildman was fired in 1996 after an internal investigation found he and other managers harassed female employees at Astra in Westborough and that he spent company money on home repairs, vacations, and high-priced prostitutes. Women at the company said Bildman engaged in “up-close and personal conduct’’ and they were under relentless pressure to dress provocatively and to socialize with Bildman and other executives to ensure their employment. The allegations were first reported in BusinessWeek magazine.
In 1997, a federal grant jury sitting in Massachusetts indicted Bildman on multiple counts. He ultimately pleaded guilty to falsifying tax returns and served an 18-month prison sentence.
Astra, meanwhile, agreed in 1998 to pay $9.8 million to settle charges brought by the US government, in what then was the largest sexual harassment case in the history of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Separately in 1998, the company sued Bildman in superior court for misuse of funds, fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty, while he countersued Astra for wrongful termination.
A jury ruled against Bildman on 24 of 25 counts in 2002. He appealed, setting up yesterday’s decision.
1 comment:
It is nice to see that finally some of these nasty bigpharmafia characters are getting what they deserve. It is interesting how his own Co Astra sued him after he was exposed by the law. I bet they knew about him and his nasty misdeads but covered it up as many of them do the same things routinely. It is my belief (and personal knowledge and experience) that bigpharma movers and shakers are as bad as any mafia wiseguys. In fact they are worse, for they pretend they are legit while using all kinds of illegal/criminal ways of doing biz to enrich themselves and their cos. At least in USA someone is going after these lowlifes. In many other juristictions in the West we don't have the laws or willingness by the law to go after them, both the cos and individuals. In today's climate of going after the white collar criminals (nice name isn't it?) there is a chance that law enforcement authorities may be forced by the public into doing something about these criminals who have done lot of damage to all, with impunity.
ps: whatever happened to your case?
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