INVESTIGATION AT FORMER EMPLOYER LEADS TO SWIFT DEPARTURE FROM MODERNA ROLE
Released On 24th May 2022
Jorge Gomez has left his new role as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Covid vaccine maker Moderna after only one day on the job, amid allegations of inappropriate financial reporting by his former employer.
Before joining Moderna, Mr Gomez had since 2019 been employed by Dentsply Sirona as its CFO and Executive Vice President.
The dental products manufacturer has announced it will not file its first quarter 2022 financial report with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on time in light of an internal investigation into "certain financial reporting matters".
According to a separate SEC filing, the investigation if focused on "incentives" that may have been used by "current and former employees" to sell products during the third and fourth quarters of 2021.
The filing also revealed that the company was investigating the role of “senior management” members who may have directed the use of these incentives to achieve “executive compensation targets”.
Dentsply has brought in a firm of forensic accountants to investigate the allegations.
Roger Isaacs, Forensic Partner at Milsted Langdon, said: “The forensic accountants will no doubt have to plough through vast amounts of documentation to try to ascertain whether there has been any wrongdoing.
The task may be made more difficult if attempts have been made to obfuscate the true nature of the relevant financial transactions. Often, perpetrators of frauds will go to great lengths to try to cover their tracks.
A key issue is likely to be the determination as to whether the transactions that will be the subject of the forensic scrutiny could be justified as having a legitimate commercial basis or whether they were the product of dishonest intent.”
