Inotiv Faces SEC Probe on Imports of Monkeys From Asia
The drug testing company said it is cooperating with the investigation, which is looking at possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act In November, U.S. prosecutors in Florida charged employees of Inotiv suppliers with conspiracy and smuggling of endangered long-tailed macaques from Cambodia. Photo: Getty Images By Richard Vanderford Aug. 15, 2023 3:31 pm ET Inotiv, a pharmaceutical testing company, faces an investigation into whether its monkey-sourcing practices may have violated U.S. anti-foreign bribery law. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has sent Inotiv a request for documents and information relating to the company’s and several subsidiaries’ importation of “non-human primates” from Asia, including whether its practices comply with the
In November, U.S. prosecutors in Florida charged employees of Inotiv suppliers with conspiracy and smuggling of endangered long-tailed macaques from Cambodia.
Photo: Getty Images
Inotiv, a pharmaceutical testing company, faces an investigation into whether its monkey-sourcing practices may have violated U.S. anti-foreign bribery law.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has sent Inotiv a request for documents and information relating to the company’s and several subsidiaries’ importation of “non-human primates” from Asia, including whether its practices comply with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Inotiv said in a recent securities filing.
Inotiv is fully cooperating with the SEC’s voluntary requests, a representative said.
A representative for the SEC said the agency “does not comment on the existence or nonexistence of a possible investigation.”
West Lafayette, Ind.-based Inotiv provides drug testing services and sells research animals to pharmaceutical companies, government and universities. The company has faced a number of investigations centering on its animal-related practices.
In November, federal prosecutors in Miami charged several employees of Inotiv’s main supplier of monkeys, along with two Cambodian government officials, with involvement in a criminal conspiracy to illegally bring wild long-tailed macaques into the U.S.
The endangered species is protected under an international treaty and can be imported only with special permits. To make up for a shortage of the monkeys at breeding facilities, the co-conspirators allegedly acquired macaques through the black market.
Cambodian government officials allegedly received payments to issue permits that falsely showed the monkeys were bred in captivity, when some were captured from national parks and protected areas. The criminal conspiracy ran from at least December 2017 to January 2022, the Florida prosecutors said. The case is pending.
In the Inotiv filing released Friday, it said the SEC asked for information covering a period from December 2017 to the present.
Inotiv is cooperating with Florida prosecutors and has stopped importing non-human primates from Cambodia because of new export restrictions, the company said in December. It is, however, selling those animals now in the U.S. Inotiv expects to establish new procedures before it begins importing primates from Cambodia again, it said.
Write to Richard Vanderford at [email protected]
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