Roundup suit lawyer accused of $200 million extortion plot
Source: CBS News via MSN.com
Law enforcement officials have arrested a Virginia lawyer involved in litigation over the health risks of Monsanto's Roundup weed killer product, with prosecutors accusing him of trying to extort an unnamed company into a $200 million consulting fee with his legal firm.
Timothy Litzenburg, 37, was charged with interstate intentions to extort, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Tuesday. Litzenburg represented a former school groundskeeper win a $289 million lawsuit last year against agribusiness giant Monsanto over Roundup, which has been linked to cancer (The settlement was later reduced to $78 million.)
In the Justice Department complaint, federal officials didn't name Monsanto as the company Litzenburg allegedly tried to extort and instead described Litzenburg's victims as "Company 1" and "Company 2." Company 1 is a privately owned chemical manufacturer, and Company 2 is a publicly traded corporation that acquired Company 1 in 2018, the complaint states.
Publicly traded Bayer acquired privately owned Monsanto in June 2018. "Monsanto is not a party to this matter," a Bayer spokesperson told
Federal officials allege Litzenburg contacted the companies in October and said they had a potentially large liability for making a harmful chemical used in their household product for killing weeds. Litzenburg threatened to find people who he would advise to sue the companies for exposing them to the chemical, according to the complaint. Litzenburg told the companies lawyers that he would cease searching for potential plantiffs in exchange for a multi-million-dollar consulting agreement, the complaint claims.
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/roundup-suit-lawyer-accused-of-dollar200-million-extortion-plot/ar-BBY8mBV
keithbvadu2
(36,305 posts)PufPuf23
(8,679 posts)joining the fray to defend Bayer and Montsanto?
Response to PufPuf23 (Original post)
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7wo7rees
(5,128 posts)If we could only do the same to subpoenaed govt officials. And their lawyers.
PufPuf23
(8,679 posts)Off topic but IMO way too many politicians are first lawyers and this may be part of our political problems.
bucolic_frolic
(42,479 posts)you gotta be a pretty obtuse lawyer not to see how this could backfire big time.
PufPuf23
(8,679 posts)Pretty precarious having the Justice Department and Montsanto and Bayer for enemies.
Wonder what the entire story is?
I know TV and the internet are flooded with ads for Montsanto RoundUp claims.
Archae
(46,246 posts)PufPuf23
(8,679 posts)against Montsanto.
Looks like a scam by lawyers but there may also be merit. Both can be true.
Maybe RoundUp (glyphosate) is not a safe herbicide to use?
RoundUp and RoundUp resistant GMO crops are ubiquitous in our food chain.
Mega $$$ involved.
ProfessorGAC
(64,184 posts)There is a reason the agribusiness giants are working on things like glyphosonates.
Since glyphosates are effective, what would the benefit be in developing applications and industrial processing of a more expensive chemical?
Seems logical to suggest they know they need a safer product.
The newer molecule is more biodegradable, and yet does not metabolize in the human body as readily.
So, they are fighting the lawsuits, but the R&D activities suggest they know the have to lower human effects.
PufPuf23
(8,679 posts)a new term to me.
What you say makes sense.
Thank you.
ProfessorGAC
(64,184 posts)They can't "tell" me the motivation, but they also "didn't not tell me". If you catch my drift.
denem
(11,045 posts)2,4-D / 2,4,5-T. Glyphosate was the 'safe alternative'.
Back to the drawing board boys.
Archae
(46,246 posts)A corrupt, ambulance-chaser lawyer, who grabbed a HUGE chunk of what that gardener won, (according to one report the gardener got less than 30% of the actual award,) using hysteria and fake "science."
Turns out he's also an extortionist.
I'm getting bombed in my e-mail DAILY from lawyers like this guy saying "Jump on the bandwagon! Let's sue anyone who manufactures anything!"
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MFGsunny
(2,356 posts)Sounds amazingly like every other crooked scheme MF45 and cabal have drummed up since he/they first sullied all that is holy in our democracy.