Anonymous ID: d8efed Jan. 9, 2021, 6:02 a.m. No.12423113   🗄️.is đź”—kun

>>12423053

Steve Ricchetti, who on Tuesday was named counselor to the president in Biden’s eventual administration, has a brother, Jeff, who was hired to lobby for pharmaceutical firms while Biden was running for president, according to disclosure reports. Ricchetti was Biden’s campaign chairman and previously his chief of staff.

 

Biden’s campaign ran, in part, on the idea of reducing drug prices. Some of these companies have been known to have high drug costs. If Biden moves ahead with polices aiming to lower prescription prices, ethics experts say Ricchetti may have to recuse himself because his brother could reap a financial benefit from the same industry the administration as a whole is trying to regulate.

 

“The option for Steve Ricchetti is to recuse from involvement in White House policy matters that directly and substantially impact the finances of his brother,” Paul Ryan, vice president of policy and litigation at ethics watchdog Common Cause, told CNBC on Tuesday. “I think it’s fair to expect public officials to recuse themselves from government decision-making that could financially benefit their immediate family members.”

 

Steve and Jeff Ricchetti co-founded their self-named lobbying shop over a decade ago. While Steve Ricchetti hasn’t lobbied since before Biden became vice president, Jeff Ricchetti is still a registered lobbyist.

 

Jeff Ricchetti started lobbying for British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline in September. A month earlier, he started work for Horizon Therapeutics, which has its corporate headquarters in Ireland and was once known as Horizon Pharma.

 

The firm made at least $270,000 in the third quarter, records show. That’s on top of the $365,000 that it made from lobbying during the first two quarters of the year, according to data from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

 

The two companies have a history of raising drug prices. Jeff Ricchetti has started to lobby Congress on behalf of GSK regarding “drug pricing and Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement,” his third-quarter filing says. Horizon’s lobbying registration form says Ricchetti will focus on issues related to Medicaid rebates and drug pricing.

 

Full

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/18/biden-advisor-could-face-ethics-pressure-as-brother-lobbies-for-pharma-firms.html