Two Moderna Execs Sold $30 Million in Company Stocks After Hyping Promising Vaccine Results
HOW CONVENIENT
Brian Snyder/Reuters
Two of biotech company Moderna’s top executives dumped millions in company stocks just as the value peaked by 30 percent on news of early success in clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine. But right before medical reviews suggested that the results weren’t as promising as had been hyped, the company’s chief financial officer and chief medical officer sold off $30 million in company shares through an automated system that reads futures on certain volatile stocks. CNN Business reports that Lorence Kim, Moderna’s CFO, exercised 241,000 options for $3 million on Monday and then quickly sold them for $19.8 million, creating a profit of $16.8 million. Tal Zaks, Moderna’s chief medical officer, spent $1.5 million to exercise options the next day and then immediately sold the shares for $9.77 million, making a hefty profit of $8.2 million. Moderna says that because the sales were executed under a so-called 10b5-1 plan established in advance, they are not suspect. Former Moderna director Moncef Slaoui recently left the company to lead the White House’s vaccine development effort.