Ten people — nine men and a woman — are on trial on charges of robbery and kidnapping of the media personality and the concierge of the residence where she was staying on the night of Oct. 2, 2016. Two of them acknowledged their participation and the others denied it.
Kardashian was in France for Fashion Week when men dressed as police officers allegedly tied her up with zip ties and duct tape, held her at gunpoint and stole $10 million worth of jewelry, including a $4 million diamond ring given to her by her then-husband Kanye West.
In interviews and on her family’s reality TV show, Kardashian described being terrified, thinking she was going to be raped and killed when the criminals broke into her bedroom and pointed a gun at her.
“They dragged me out to the hallway on top of the stairs, that’s when I saw the gun like clear as day,” she said on her show, “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.” “It makes me so upset thinking about it.”
Her lawyers said she will testify in person at the trial, with a provisional schedule showing that is expected to happen on May 13. The trial is scheduled to run through May 23.
“Ms. Kardashian is reserving her testimony for the court and jury and does not wish to elaborate further at this time,” they said. “She has great respect and admiration for the French justice system and has been treated with great respect by the French authorities. She wishes the trial to proceed in an orderly fashion, in accordance with French law and with respect for all parties to the case.”
Twelve people were originally expected in the defendants’ box. One of them died and another is seriously ill and can’t be tried. According to the investigation, five of the 10 defendants were present at the scene of the robbery.
The “Granddad Robbers”
The French press has dubbed them The Granddad Robbers because the main defendants are older — most in their 60s and 70s — and have been bank robbers with long criminal records.
The DNA of two of the accused was found at the scene, and they have admitted taking part in the robbery.
Aomar Ait Khedache, now aged 69, was allegedly the mastermind behind the heist.
Known as “Old Omar”, he reportedly told investigators he had no idea who Kardashian was but had heard from a waiter friend about the amazing jewelry she wore when she was out dining in Paris.
Defendant Aomar Aït Khedache, left, one of the men accused in the 2016 armed robbery of Kim Kardashian, arrives at the palace of justice April 28, 2025, in Paris.
AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard
When the robbers arrived at the luxury suites hotel known only as “The No Address” where the celebrity was staying during Paris Fashion Week, they allegedly demanded the guard, at gunpoint, direct them to “the rapper’s wife” – a reference to her then-husband, West.
“Old Omar” reportedly wrote to Kardashian in 2017, when he was in custody, to say sorry. Her lawyers said he wrote to apologize after he heard her speak of how traumatic the experience had been.
He left the hotel on a bicycle, as did two others, then met his son, who was waiting for him in a parked car at a nearby train station.
The other man — 77-year-old Yunice Abbas — has publicly admitted to being a lookout during the robbery.
Yunice Abbas, one of the men accused in the 2016 armed robbery of Kim Kardashian, arrives at the palace of justice April 28, 2025, in Paris.
AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard
He said he was unarmed and did not personally threaten Kardashian, but admitted he shared responsibility for the crime.
In 2021, he co-authored a French-language book titled “I Sequestered Kim Kardashian.”
Abbas told reporters that he will apologize during the trial and will give details of his role in the heist but won’t denounce anyone else.
The other defendants are suspected of providing information about Kardashian’s presence in the apartment. Others are accused of playing a role in the resale of the jewelry in Antwerp, Belgium.
The gangsters stole many pieces of jewelry. Only one piece of jewelry — a diamond cross on platinum that was lost during the suspects’ escape — has been recovered.
Celebrity status could distract from trial
As the trial opened Monday, lawyers for the accused told reporters outside the court that they were concerned that Kardashian’s fame would distract from the essentials of the case.
“It’s a simple case with people who will accept responsibility, who regret what they’ve done,” said Frank Berton, lawyer for Khedache.
Another of his lawyers, Chloe Arnoux, told reporters: “He is, in fact, rather worried about seeing all you journalists, because he is afraid that his case will not be treated the same way it would be if there were not such a famous person involved in it.”
The lawyer for night watchman Abderrahmane Ouatiki told journalists on his way into court that he was tired of suggestions that the robbers who allegedly forced his client at gunpoint to direct them to Kardashian’s suite were “kind old men.”
“The people in front of him that day were not Robin Hoods, they were experienced, determined criminals who did not hesitate to threaten him while he was working nights to finance his studies,” he said.
Country superstar Jelly Roll wants to share his message of redemption with others looking for a second chance, but says there’s a roadblock in his way.
The 40-year-old told the Tennessee Board of Parole that his criminal record, under his birth name, Jason DeFord, is complicating his ability to travel internationally and perform.
On Tuesday, the board voted to recommend a pardon for the singer. Ultimately, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee will make the final decision. A spokesperson told CBS News the governor would follow a “comprehensive review process” and added that he generally announces pardons annually in December.
Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall, who has known Jelly Roll for years, contributed a letter of support to his pardon application.
“I’m a sucker for redemption,” Hall said. “I think he has an opportunity to change lives that none of us who believe we’re experts — and none of us who signed up to do this for a career — can do.”
What did Jelly Roll serve jail time for?
Lyrics from the Jelly Roll’s hit songs stem from personal experiences with drugs, crime, jail time and a family history of addiction. Starting at 14 years old, Jelly Roll spent a decade in and out of jail for drug possession, dealing, shoplifting and aggravated battery.
He spoke about his road to success with “Sunday Morning” last year, from his old cell at the county detention facility in Nashville.
“This is jail. It sucks, every one I’ve ever been to,” he said. “I think that it’s cool to see vulnerability that way, and that we can all grow together.”
Jelly Roll has regularly used his platform to be an example for others. At the 2024 CMT Music Awards he tailored his message to young men in juvenile detention, telling the crowd, “it’s important that I stand up here tonight and represent those that are looking for second chances.”
The next day, he spoke about that moment with “CBS Mornings” co-host Gayle King, saying, “change is around the corner for all of them. So I truly believe that. I epitomize it as much as I can.”
He has made it his mission to speak and perform at penitentiaries across the country and has even testified on Capitol Hill to advocate for fentanyl victims and take accountability for his past.
“I was a part of the problem,” he said during his testimony in 2024. “I am here now standing as a man that wants to be a part of the solution.”
Vladimir Duthiers is a featured host of “CBS Mornings” and serves as anchor for CBS News 24/7. The Peabody Award- and Emmy Award-winning journalist has covered a wide range of breaking and feature stories since joining CBS News in 2014.
A pedestrian passes the seal of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency displayed outside the organization’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., on March 20, 2019.
Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on Tuesday said a February hack of its email systems qualified as a “major incident” and exposed “highly sensitive information.”
The breach, first disclosed and resolved in February, involved information related to the “financial condition of federally regulated financial institutions used in its examinations and supervisory oversight processes.”
The OCC, an agency that regulates and supervises national banks, said it learned of the incident on Feb. 11, and shut off compromised administrative accounts the next day. The regulator said it is using external cybersecurity experts for a full review of the incident and is launching a review of its IT security policies to prevent further attacks.
“I have taken immediate steps to determine the full extent of the breach and to remedy the long-held organizational and structural deficiencies that contributed to this incident,” said Acting Comptroller of the Currency Rodney Hood.
“There will be full accountability for the vulnerabilities identified and any missed internal findings that led to the unauthorized access,” he added.
Hackers had access to more than 150,000 emails from June 2023 until earlier this year, Bloomberg reported earlier, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
Charlie Javice, who is charged with defrauding JPMorgan Chase & Co into buying her now-shuttered college financial aid startup Frank for $175 million in 2021, arrives at United States Court in Manhattan in New York City, June 6, 2023.
Mike Segar | Reuters
Charlie Javice, founder of a startup purchased by JPMorgan Chase in 2021, was convicted in federal court Friday of defrauding the bank by vastly overstating the company’s customer list.
The jury decision comes after weeks of testimony in New York over who was to blame for the flameout of a once-promising startup. Frank, founded by Javice in 2016, aimed to help users apply for college financial aid.
JPMorgan has accused Javice, 32, of duping the bank into paying $175 million for a company that had more than 4 million customers, when in reality it had fewer than 300,000.
The largest U.S. bank by assets sued Javice in late 2022 after attempting to send marketing emails to some of the thousands of “customers” it thought Frank had. In its suit, JPMorgan released emails in which Javice hired a data scientist to generate a fake roster of customers.
Then, in April 2023, the Justice Department charged Javice with four crimes including wire and bank fraud, counts which carry multi-decade maximum sentences. Javice was arrested at Newark Airport on April 3 of that year and had been out on bail.
Javice had pleaded not guilty and said she was innocent throughout the trial; her lawyers blamed JPMorgan for rushing to close the Frank acquisition because it feared that other suitors would emerge.
Sentencing will happen in August, CNBC’s Leslie Picker reported.
A spokesman for New York-based JPMorgan declined to comment on Friday, while the office of a lawyer representing Javice didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.
The Trump administration was sued Tuesday in two separate civil complaints related to a request for information about FBI employees who worked on cases involving President Donald Trump and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, and a third suit challenging the removal of data from federal health agency websites.
The lawsuits are the latest in a growing number of legal salvos seeking to block — or slow down — the rapid-fire series of executive actions Trump and his allies have taken since he returned to the White House on Jan. 20.
The three cases were filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
The first case, a class-action complaint, was filed by a group of nine unidentified FBI agents and employees of the agency against the Department of Justice.
That suit seeks to block the publication or dissemination of information in surveys the plaintiffs or their supervisors have been ordered to fill out identifying “their specific role” in cases involving the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot criminal cases, and the criminal prosecution of Trump himself for retaining classified records after leaving the White House in early 2021.
The suit says the survey was issued “to identify agents to be terminated or to suffer adverse employment action.”
“Upon returning to the Presidency, Mr. Trump has ordered the DOJ to conduct a review and purge of FBI personnel involved in these investigations and prosecutions,” the suit says.
“This directive is unlawful and retaliatory, and violates the Civil Service Reform Act.”
The suit says the plaintiffs “reasonably fear that all or parts” of a list of FBI agents who worked on the Jan. 6 and Trump cases “might be published by allies of President Trump, thus placing themselves and their families in immediate danger of retribution by the now-pardoned and at-large Jan. 6 convicted felons.”
The complaint says that some of the plaintiffs’ personal information “has already been posted by Jan. 6 convicted felons on ‘dark websites.’”
A second suit, filed by the FBI Agents Association and seven unnamed agents against the DOJ, also notes the survey requesting information about whether the agents worked on Jan. 6-related criminal investigations.
That complaint asks a judge to protect the plaintiffs “from Defendants’ anticipated retaliatory decision to expose their personal information for opprobrium and potential vigilante action by those who they were investigating.”
An attorney for the agents in the second suit, Chris Mattei of Koskoff, Koskoff and Bieder, said in a statement, “The DOJ’s plan to release the names of FBI agents who investigated January 6th is an appalling attack on non-partisan public servants who have dedicated their lives to protecting our communities and our nation.”
“It is clear that the threatened disclosure is a prelude to an unlawful purge of the FBI solely driven by the Trump Administration’s vengeful and political motivations,” said Mattei.“Releasing the names of these agents would ignite a firestorm of harassment towards them and their families and it must be stopped immediately.”
CNBC has requested comment from the DOJ on the suits.
The third lawsuit was filed by the advocacy group Doctors for America against the Office of Personnel Management, the Health and Human Services Department, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Food and Drug Administration.
That complaint challenges the abrupt removal Friday from CDC and FDA websites “a broad range of health-related data and other information.”
Zach Shelley, an attorney for Public Citizen Litigation Group, which is representing Doctors for America in the suit, told CNBC that “without the information that the CDC and these other agencies have taken down, more people are going to get sick, more people are going to suffer and more people are going to die.”
Shelley said that under the Trump administration, “agencies are taking action that undermines their stated mission.”
The suit says that data is regularly used by “health professionals to diagnose and treat patients and by researchers to advance public health, including through clinical trials meant to establish the safety and efficacy of medical products.”
The removal of the data came two days after Charles Ezell, OPM’s acting director, issued a memo that ordered federal agency heads to “terminate” programs “that promote or inculcate gender ideology” and remove all websites, social media accounts and other media that have that goal.
Ezell’s order came more than a week after Trump signed an executive order titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”
The suit says that before that unannounced removal, the datasets had been on the websites for years.
Their removal “creates a dangerous gap in the scientific data available to monitor and respond to disease outbreaks, deprives physicians of resources that guide clinical practice, and takes away key resources for communicating and engaging with patients,” the suit says.
The CDC removed web pages for its Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance System, pages devoted to data on “Adolescent and School Health,” as well as pages for “The Social Vulnerability Index” and “The Environmental Justice Index,” according to the suit.
Also removed was a report and web pages related to HIV infections, the complaint says.
The FDA removed several pages, including one titled “Study of Sex Differences in the Clinical Evaluation of Medical Products,” and another titled “Diversity Action Plans to Improve Enrollment of Participants from Underrepresented Populations in Clinical Studies.”
“The decisions by CDC, FDA, and HHS to remove the webpages and datasets contradict their stated missions and are causing and will cause substantial harm to Plaintiff and its members, as well as other physicians, researchers, and patients who rely on the removed webpages and datasets,” the suit says.
Spokespeople for OPM, HHS and CDC declined to comment on the lawsuit. The media affairs office of FDA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
An Argentine judge confirmed charges against five people in connection with the death of Liam Payne, a former member of musical group One Direction, and ordered preventive prison for two of them for having supplied him with drugs.
A judicial officer confirmed Monday the judge’s decision and said that one of the two people ordered to be put under preventive prison — a form of pre-trial detention — was an employee of the hotel in Buenos Aires where Payne stayed until he died after falling from the balcony of his room in October.
The officer said the other person was a waiter Payne met in a restaurant. The officer, who requested not to be identified as a condition to talk about the ruling, said that both face charges for supplying drugs and they need to present themselves before the judge.
The judge also charged three other people with manslaughter, including a businessman who was with Payne in Argentina and two managers of the hotel. The official said that they were not ordered to be held under preventive prison.
The hotel manager and hotel reception manager who were charged saw Payne intoxicated and unable to stand in the hotel lobby prior to his death, according to a news release from the prosecutor’s office. Authorities said the manager permitted Payne to be taken up to his room, which had a balcony, and the reception manager helped bring him up to his room, instead of keeping him in a place without sources of danger and with company until medical help could arrive.
Payne fell from his room’s balcony on the third floor of his hotel in the upscale neighborhood of Palermo in the Argentine capital. His autopsy said he died from multiple injuries and external bleeding.
Prosecutors also said that Payne’s toxicological exams showed that his body had “traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescribed antidepressant” in the moments before his death.
Payne’s autopsy showed his injuries were caused neither by self-harm nor by physical intervention of others. The document also said that he did not have the reflex of protecting himself in the fall, which suggests he might have been unconscious.
Prosecutors in Argentina also ruled out the possibility that Payne died by suicide.
One Direction was among the most successful boy bands of recent times. It announced an indefinite hiatus in 2016 and Payne — like his former bandmates Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson — pursued a solo career.
A production line of Wegovy injection pens for the Asian market at the Novo Nordisk A/S pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Hillerod, Denmark, on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
One interpretation of the law of supply and demand is that when demand outstrips supply, scammers get busy. That’s certainly the case with the super-popular weight-loss drugs from Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk.
As millions of Americans are prescribed injectable Ozempic and Mounjaro to treat type 2 diabetes, and Wegovy and Zepbound for obesity — and countless more without prescriptions seek them as “vanity drugs” to shed unwanted pounds — the manufacturers can’t keep up production. The GLP-1s, as they’re known, are pricey, too, and insurance often doesn’t cover them, provided consumers can find them.
That confluence of factors has laid the groundwork not only for a confusing online marketplace for compounded versions of the drugs — allowed by the Food and Drug Administration when proprietary ingredients are determined to be in short supply — but a proliferation of nefarious scams offering to sell both brand-name and counterfeit GLP-1s on websites and social media platforms.
Consumers have received Lilly- and Novo-branded GLP-1s from unauthorized sellers, counterfeit versions, completely different medications or nothing at all — other than an expensive rip-off. Most disturbing, Novo told CNBC that as of mid-November, it is aware of 14 deaths and 144 hospitalizations of people who had taken compounded semaglutide, the active pharmaceutical ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy. It recently asked the FDA to ban the copycat drugs.
Within the past year, cybersecurity experts, consumer advocates, pharma researchers and media investigators have uncovered scores of accounts and content on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms, as well as numerous websites, where bad actors have been doing business, much of it illegal or at least unethical.
In May, a joint investigation by the nonprofits Digital Citizens Alliance and Coalition for a Safer Web revealed how consumers are flocking to TikTok — which faces an uncertain future after a federal court on Friday upheld a law that would seek to ban the company in the U.S. on Jan. 19 — and other social media platforms and websites to purchase branded and illicit GLP-1s, often without a prescription. According to the report, scammers create accounts promising to sell the drugs for between $200 and $400 for a month’s supply — far below market prices — paid through Zelle, Venmo and PayPal rather than traditional credit cards so as to avoid tracking.
“Scammers take advantage of human emotion and human want, and the emotion and want now is that everybody wants to lose weight,” said Eric Feinberg, vice president of content moderation for the Coalition for a Safer Web. “It’s a perfect audience to use online to take advantage of people psychologically and emotionally.”
A common ruse the investigation exposed was sellers saying the drugs were coming from overseas and then claiming that the order was held up in customs, requiring an additional $300 to $500 payment to release it. The scammers were devious, said Tom Galvin, executive director of Digital Citizens Alliance. “They send a tracking number from a delivery service that shows you where your package is, but the tracking number is BS.” Digital Citizens shelled out just over $3,000 to purchase GLP-1s, and yet the money yielded no deliveries of the drugs.
No-delivery ploys can exact a serious financial toll on victims, but “the more scary ones are where you do get a product and don’t even know whether you can trust [it] or if it’s a valid company,” said Abhishek Karnik, director for threat research and response for cybersecurity firm McAfee.
Phishing for weight-loss drug victims
Tracking activity over the first four months of this year, McAfee’s Threat Research Team uncovered just how prolific weight-loss scams have become across malicious websites, scam emails and texts, posts on social media and online marketplace listings. From January through April, McAfee researchers discovered 449 risky website URLs and 176,871 dangerous phishing attempts centered around Ozempic, Wegovy and semaglutide, an increase of 183% compared to October through December 2023.
Karnik’s team has continued to monitor these criminal activities. “We’ve identified [a total of] 367,000-plus phishing attempts, and between May and August, the number of [risky] URLs we found increased by 135%,” he said.
JAMA Network Open in August published the results of a study by an international group of researchers who searched the global internet to ferret out websites for online pharmacies advertising semaglutide for sale. Among the 317 operations found, more than 42% were illegal, operating without a valid license, selling medications without prescriptions and shipping unregistered and falsified products. Six purchases were made, but only three were delivered.
A recent CNBC investigation explored the murky international world of counterfeit weight-loss drugs. Among its findings, investigators recounted the seizure in the UK last year of hundreds of what appeared to be Ozempic pens, but were in fact insulin pens relabeled as Ozempic. They also discovered from Lilly that its retatrutide, a novel GLP-1 drug still in clinical trials and not FDA-approved, was being marketed to the public.
Counterfeits and diverted drugs — branded GLP-1s sold on the black market — originate from many countries, including India, China, the UK, Mexico and Turkey. One of the destinations where they make their way to the U.S. was New York’s JFK International Airport. According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, since January 1, the agency had made more than 198 seizures of products labeled as Ozempic.
In response to this glut of fraudulent activity, social media companies and web operators have employed human monitors and machine technology to identify and shut down online scammers. A TikTok spokesperson, without detailing its various monitoring efforts, referred to the company’s community guidelines. “We strictly prohibit the trade of drugs, and we do not allow attempts to defraud or scam members of our community,” the spokesperson said. “Our advertising policies also prohibit the advertising of weight-loss products, including weight-loss injections and fat-burning pills.”
Despite official policies, however, undeterred violators find workarounds when their accounts are shuttered. They might set up another account with the drug names misspelled, spaces between letters or mash-ups of semaglutide and terzepitide. Many instruct interested buyers to direct message them or send links to Telegram and other dark websites that encrypt content and provide anonymity.
“The social media platforms are the new street corners for drug dealers, and they move from place to place,” Galvin said. “It’s a game of whack-a-mole.”
Bags of counterfeit Novo Nordisk A/S Ozempic and Wegovy, foreground, and other fake drugs at a warehouse operated by the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in London, UK, on Monday, Feb. 27, 2024. The UK task force tracks down illegal websites, monitors social media and even carries out raids to stamp out sales of fake “skinny jabs” as both organized crime and unscrupulous lone entrepreneurs look to capitalize on the weight-loss frenzy.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
For this article, CNBC found more than a dozen TikTok accounts that appeared to be selling GLP-1s in violation of its policies, including @ozempic_weightloss, @sema.irel and @semaglutideandtr. Soon after relaying the information to TikTok, we were told that all had been removed, except one, which was not in violation.
The widespread compounding of GLP-1s is another contributor to the dodgy marketplace for the drugs. In April and December of 2022, respectively, the FDA determined that semaglutide and tirzepatide were in short supply, opening the floodgates for compounding pharmacies and outsourcing facilities to manufacture, distribute and market copies, typically sold through telehealth companies, medical spas and wellness centers.
Compounded GLP-1s, unlike Lilly’s and Novo’s brands, are not FDA-approved, which means they do not undergo the agency’s review for safety, effectiveness and quality before they’re marketed. Instead, the FDA and state boards of pharmacy register, license and inspect compounding facilities and ingredients. And while some compounders meet regulatory requirements, such as Henry Meds, Noom Med, Ro and Hims & Hers Health, many others don’t.
Publicly traded Hims & Hers launched its gender-focused telehealth platform in 2017, adding compounded semaglutide to its weight-loss program this past May. “We waited until we were able to find the right compounding partner,” said Dr. Patrick Carroll, the company’s chief medial officer. Besides that partner, BPI Labs, Hims & Hers acquired another, MetasourceRx, in September. The company also sells branded Ozempic and next year will offer liraglutide, the first generic GLP-1.
FDA scrutiny
In the meantime, the FDA is investigating the bad actors in the compounding world. “Purchasing prescription drugs from unregulated, unlicensed sources without a prescription is risky,” a spokesperson for the agency told CNBC. “We urge consumers to be vigilant and to utilize tips tools from the FDA’s BeSafeRx campaign to help them safely buy drugs online.”
In May, the KFF Health Tracking Poll found that about one in eight adults (12%) said they had taken a GLP-1 drug, with about half, or 21 million, actively using the medications. Nearly 80% purchased the drugs or a prescription for them — at a cost between $936 to $1,349 per month before insurance coverage, rebates or coupons — from a primary care doctor or a specialist, according to the survey. Fewer reported getting them from an online provider or website (11%), a medical spa or aesthetic medical center (10%), or from somewhere else (2%). But that doesn’t count the inestimable number of individuals who have obtained GLP-1s without prescriptions through unregulated online channels and illicit online compounding pharmacies, many operating overseas.
While social media companies police illegal sellers of GLP-1s, hundreds of influencers are touting the drugs and their journeys using them across the platforms with impunity, according to a Fast Company report. Many influencers are recruited and paid by telehealth companies.
Meanwhile, household names have been increasingly speaking out about their personal use of these drugs, which increases familiarity and curiosity among the public.In October, People profiled 64 celebrities — including Kathy Bates, Elon Musk, Oprah Winfrey, Andy Cohen, Billie Jean King and Rob Lowe — who have talked about their weight-loss drug experiences, mostly on social media.
Currently, Lilly’s and Novo’s GLP-1s are prescribed only for type 2 diabetes and obesity. But as researchers find additional conditions that can be treated with the drugs — including cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, dementia and addiction, and most recently even knee pain — prescriptions will increase exponentially.
In September, an article in the Annals of Pharmacotherapy warned against manufacturers that use a legal loophole to sell vials containing semaglutide and tirzepatide to consumers without a prescription by stating that the drugs are for “research purposes only” and/or “not for human consumption.” The authors conducted an internet search for such scofflaws, uncovering 40 websites selling what were labeled as “peptides” to consumers.
The FDA has sent warning letters to a handful, including Miami-based US Chem Labs in February, citing several violations and requesting action within 15 days. As of Dec. 6, CNBC found that the company still listed compounded semaglutide as available on its website. US Chem Labs could not be reached by phone and an email request for comment was not returned by press time.
The authors of the Annals of Pharmacotherapy article also identified three companies that were advertising GLP-1s on Facebook, owned by Meta. “Our policies prohibit content that defrauds people by promoting false or misleading health claims, including those related to weight loss, and we remove this kind of content when we become aware of it,” a Meta spokesperson told CNBC. CNBC subsequently sent Meta the names of the three companies, and several days later their Facebook pages were removed.
Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk battle with copycat drugs
Workers walk past manufacturing equipment at Eli Lilly & Co. manufacturing plant in Kinsale, Ireland, on Sept. 12, 2024. Lilly has been bulking up its production capacity since 2020, investing more than $17 billion into developing new plants and expanding existing facilities for the weight-loss and diabetes drugs that are expected to become some of the best-selling medicines of all time.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Lilly and Novo are in a quandary regarding compounders. The copycats have filled a void while the branded GLP-1s are in shortage, attracting patients who can’t access or afford them.
But now the manufacturers want their domains to themselves. Lilly has sent cease-and-desist letters to numerous compounding sellers, and both companies have filed lawsuits against numerous compounding pharmacies, alleging trademark infringement and deceptive marketing.
On October 2, the FDA declared that Lilly’s tirzepatide was no longer in short supply, ostensibly putting compounders of that ingredient out of business. Two weeks later, though, after a public outcry from compounders’ patients and a federal lawsuit brought by compounding pharmacies, the FDA backtracked, saying it would reevaluate whether the drug is available and make a decision in mid-November.
Yet, on November 22, the FDA said it was still assessing the situation and agreed to not take action against compounders of tirzepatide until December 19, unless the agency makes an earlier decision.
Novo’s semaglutide is still listed as “currently in shortage” by the FDA, although the agency also lists Ozempic and Wegovy as “available.” A Novo Nordisk spokesperson told CNBC, “It’s important to note that availability doesn’t always mean immediate accessibility at every pharmacy. Patients may experience variability at specific locations, regardless of whether a drug is in shortage.”
Lilly and Novo have advocated for broadening insurance coverage for the drugs, and the Biden administration recently proposed that Medicare and Medicaid extend their coverage for obesity medications. Although that plan could be scuttled by the incoming Trump administration. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services, has suggested that obesity should be tackled through healthy eating, not drugs.
The obesity drug market volatility has shown up in recent earnings. In its third-quarter report on October 30, Lilly fell short of profit and revenue expectations, partly due to disappointing sales of its GLP-1s, even as demand for them continued to soar. A week later, Novo reported third-quarter earnings in line with expectations, strengthened by robust sales of Ozempic and Wegovy. Nonetheless, the Danish company narrowed its 2024 full-year growth guidance, reflecting, according to a statement from the company, “expected continued periodic supply constraints and related drug shortage notifications.”
Regardless, demand for GLP-1s — no matter if they’re branded, compounded or counterfeit or where they’re purchased from — is certain to keep growing. That will put more pressure on social media platforms and web operators to guard against scams.
Galvin suggested that the companies need to work together to identify scammers as they navigate between platforms to avoid detection. “Too many platforms look at this as a PR problem and not an internet safety problem,” he said. “If they were collaborating with each other to identify the bad actors and shared that information, people would find a lot less of them.”
The photos are the latest in a series by the NYPD of the same individual wanted for questioning in Wednesday’s killing.
The person can be seen in one of the photos through the partition of what appears to be a New York City taxi, wearing a blue medical mask and a black hoodie.
A person of interest wanted for questioning in the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson is shown in new images released Saturday by New York City police.
New York Police Department / New York Police Department
The other photo, taken from inside a car, shows the man outside the window walking alongside the vehicle while wearing the same blue mask and a dark-colored puffer jacket with the hood pulled over his head.
The NYPD has said investigators have been able to track some of his movements by taxi.
A person of interested wanted for questioning in the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson is shown walking in a new image released Saturday by New York City police.
New York City Police Department / New York City Police Department
As the investigation into Thompson’s killing and the manhunt for the gunman carried into Saturday, three sources familiar with the probe told NBC News there was still no identification of the person of interest.
A combined $60,000 in reward money is being offered by the FBI, Crime Stoppers and the NYPD for information leading to the arrest of the gunman.
Thompson was gunned down outside the New York Hilton Midtown hotel as he was on his way to UnitedHealth Group’s investor conference Wednesday morning, officials have said.
“Based on the evidence we have so far, it does appear the victim was specifically targeted,” Joseph Kenny, NYPD chief of detectives, said earlier in the week. “But at this point, we do not know why.”
New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Wednesday it was a “premeditated, preplanned targeted attack.”
Police also found a gray backpack in Central Park that the person of interest was said to be carrying at the time of the slaying. Officials were looking into whether it was in fact the same bag, two senior law enforcement officials told NBC News.
A cellphone was found by police near the scene, and investigators are trying to use it to learn more about the man’s contacts and his movement, two sources familiar with the probe said.
Four sources familiar with the investigation told NBC News on Saturday that no gun was found in the backpack. Three sources said there was a jacket in the bag, but it remains unclear whether it is the jacket the gunman wore at the time of the shooting.
Authorities believe the man being sought in connection with the killing may have left the state.
Kenny told reporters that video shows the man riding a bike in Central Park, then taking a taxi to the Port Authority bus station close to the George Washington Bridge.
Investigators are looking for additional video to determine if he got on a bus from there, and if so which one.
Police believe he may have traveled to New York City from Atlanta last month by Greyhound bus, three senior law enforcement officials familiar with the case told NBC News. The bus arrived in New York on Nov. 24, after making several stops along the way, they said.
Officials in New York are looking into whether they can find a name used for the Nov. 24 trip, and both Atlanta police and Greyhound are assisting in the probe.
While in New York, the man stayed at a hostel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, the NYPD said at a Friday briefing. Authorities are working to determine whether he paid in cash and used a fake ID to rent a room there.
Roommates at the hostel said he kept his mask on the entire time, even while eating, only pulling it down to take a bite, the NYPD said.
Thompson’s wife, Paulette Thompson, told NBC News on Wednesday that her husband had been receiving threats, but she was unclear of their nature.
“There had been some threats,” she said. “Basically, I don’t know, a lack of coverage? I don’t know details. I just know that he said there were some people that had been threatening him.”
Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealth Group‘s insurance unit, was fatally shot outside the Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan on Wednesday morning in what appears to be “a brazen, targeted attack,” the New York Police Department said.
“I want to be clear at this time, every indication is that this was a premeditated, preplanned, targeted attack,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said during a news conference Wednesday following the shooting.
“This does not appear to be a random act of violence,” she said, adding that the department is carrying out a full investigation.
Thompson, 50, led UnitedHealthcare, the largest private health insurer in the U.S. He was on the way to UnitedHealth Group’s investor day set for Wednesday at 8 a.m. ET at the Hilton, the NYPD said. The company canceled that event after the shooting.
Patrol officers responded to a 911 call at 6:46 a.m. ET about a person shot in front of the Hilton hotel at 1335 Avenue of the Americas, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said during the news conference. Officers arrived at 6:48 a.m. ET to find Thompson on the sidewalk with gunshot wounds to his back and leg, he added.
A Crime Scene Unit officer photographs the scene where CEO of UnitedHealthcare Brian Thompson, 50, was shot as he entered the New York Hilton early on December 4, 2024 in New York.
Bryan R. Smith | Afp | Getty Images
Emergency medical services brought Thompson to Roosevelt Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 7:12 a.m. ET, according to Kenny.
The suspect showed up at the location on foot, roughly five minutes before Thompson arrived outside the Hilton, Kenny said. Several people passed him as he waited for Thompson, he added.
As Thompson walked alone toward the Hilton, the suspect stepped onto the sidewalk from behind a car and approached Thompson from behind, firing several rounds that struck him at least once in the back and at least once in the right calf, according to Kenny and security video obtained by NBC News. After initial shots, the gun appeared to malfunction before the suspect fired again.
Security camera still images showing the shooter reportedly involved in killing of the CEO of United Healthcare, Brian Thompson, in Midtown Manhattan are displayed on the day of NYPD press conference, in New York City, US, December 4, 2024.
Mike Segar | Reuters
Following the shooting, the suspect fled on foot into an alleyway between 54th and 55th streets, according to Kenny. He said the suspect then walked west on Avenue of the Americas, where he got onto an e-bike and rode toward Central Park.
Tisch said the suspect was last seen in Central Park on Center Drive early this morning. Kenny said the suspect wore a black face mask, black and white sneakers, and a “very distinctive” gray backpack. The video of the shooting showed the suspect wearing a hooded jacket.
The NYPD recovered three live 9 mm rounds and three discharged 9 mm shell casings at the scene, Kenny said. He added that they recovered a cellphone.
No arrests have been made. The NYPD has increased the reward in the case to $10,000, Tisch noted.
The suspect in the shooting was described as using a firearm with a silencer, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC.
Kenny said the NYPD is unable to determine yet whether the suspect used a silencer. The department will investigate that further, he said.
The shooter reportedly involved in killing of the CEO of United Healthcare, Brian Thompson, in Midtown Manhattan on Dec. 4, 2024.
Source: NYPD
A hot dog vendor near the Hilton who was present at 6:30 a.m. ET said he did not hear any gunshots but noticed a sudden swarm of police. A Hilton doorman who began his shift at 7 a.m. ET said everything appeared to be “pretty normal” at the hotel. Both people asked not to be named.
In a statement, a spokesperson for New York Citi Bike-operator Lyft said the company stands “ready to assist law enforcement with this investigation.”
Thompson is survived by his wife, Paulette Thompson, and their two children.
Thompson’s wife told NBC News that he had been receiving threats. She said the NYPD told her it was a planned attack.
“Yes, there had been some threats basically I don’t know, a lack of coverage? I don’t know details,” she told NBC News. “I just know that he said there were some people that had been threatening him.”
She told NBC News that Thompson did not alter any of his travel habits despite the threats.
“I can’t really give a thoughtful response right now,” Paulette Thompson told NBC News. “I just found this out and I’m trying to console my children. “
UnitedHealth Group is the biggest health-care conglomerate in the United States based on revenue and its roughly $563 billion market cap. UnitedHealthcare posted more than $281 billion in revenue last year, making up more than two-thirds of UnitedHealth Group’s annual revenue for 2023.
Shares of UnitedHealth Group rose more than 1% on Wednesday.
In a statement Wednesday, UnitedHealth Group said it was “deeply saddened and shocked at the passing” of Thompson. The company called him a “highly respected colleague and friend to all who worked with him.”
“We are working closely with the New York Police Department and ask for your patience and understanding during this difficult time,” UnitedHealth Group said. “Our hearts go out to Brian’s family and all who were close to him.”
Police officers stand near the scene where the CEO of United Healthcare Brian Thompson was reportedly shot and killed in Midtown Manhattan, in New York City, US, December 4, 2024.
Shannon Stapleton | Reuters
Earlier Wednesday, the company canceled its investor event when it acknowledged a “medical situation” with an employee.
“I’m afraid that we – some of you may know we’re dealing with very serious medical situation with one of our team members,” Chief Executive Officer Andrew Witty said during the investor day, according to a transcript. “And as a result, I’m afraid we’re going to have to bring to a close the event today, which I’m sure you’ll understand.”
Thompson had worked for United Health for just over 20 years, joining the company in April 2004 after spending nearly seven years at PwC, according to his LinkedIn page. He stepped in as CEO of UnitedHealthcare in April 2021 after serving as the top executive of the insurance unit’s government programs.
Thompson was a resident of Maple Grove, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis, and graduated valedictorian from the University of Iowa.
MFlags fly at half mast outside the United Healthcare corporate headquarters on December 4, 2024 in Minnetonka, Minnesota. United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot dead on the street in New York City before he was to attend the company’s annual investors meeting.
Stephen Maturen | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York said in a statement Wednesday she was briefed on the shooting and directed the state police to provide the NYPD with any necessary help with the investigation.
“Our hearts are with the family and loved ones of Mr. Thompson and we are committed to ensuring the perpetrator is brought to justice,” she said.
Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota called the killing “horrifying news and a terrible loss for the business and health care community” in a post Wednesday on X.
UnitedHealth Group is still grappling with the fallout from a ransomware attack in February targeting its company, Change Healthcare, which processes medical claims. The attack compromised the protected health information of at least 100 million people.
— CNBC’s Ester Bloom and NBC News’ David K. Li contributed to this report.
Michael Connelly has been a best-selling author of crime and detective fiction for over 30 years. Now out with his newest novel, “The Waiting,” Connelly stopped by “CBS Saturday Morning” to talk about his life and career with Dana Jacobson.
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