Robert F.
Kennedy Jr.
REPUBLICAN
California
Appointed Position:
United States Secretary of Health and Human Services
Overview
Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) Jr. has a long history of shady business behavior as a lawyer, including profiting from the anti-vaccination movement. While he has sworn to divest himself from most outside income while head of Health and Human Services (HHS), he still stands to profit from referral fees from cases filed against vaccine manufacturer Gardasil.
The Facts
RFK Jr.’s current firm, WisnerBaum, is leading a multidistrict litigation (MDL) against Gardasil. Currently, at least 200 federal cases have been consolidated into the Gardasil MDL. According to the ethics agreement included with RFK Jr.’s financial disclosure, he could continue to receive “10% of fees awarded in contingency fee cases” referred to WisnerBaum as part of the MDL even after he is seated as HHS Secretary.
RFK Jr. has been questioned over his refusal to give up all of his claims to referral and contingency fees fromWisnerBaum cases and cases brought by other law firms he is associated with. He has said he would assign the potentially millions in referral fees he could receive through the Gardasil MDL and other litigation to an adult child, likely his son, who is also a WisnerBaum attorney.
Additionally, as HHS Secretary, RFK Jr. would be in a unique position to influence the outcome of the Gardasil MDL. This includes creating official government publications that encourage everyday Americans to file their own cases against the company, cases that could be forcibly consolidated into WisnerBaum’s MDL. The primary attorneys of an MDL are typically entitled to “common-benefit fees” that cover the cost of discovery for all MDL cases, even cases they did not bring themselves. This means that RFK Jr. could encourage frivolous litigation against vaccine manufacturers in his official capacity as HHS Secretary in a way that directly enriches his friends and himself by increasing the size of his referral fees.
RFK Jr. has other ethics concerns related to his ties to the anti-vax movement and history of sexual improprieties.
RFK Jr. is a noted vaccine skeptic and has criticized all existing vaccines, once saying that “there’s no vaccine that is, you know, safe and effective.” He previously served as executive director of Children’s Health Defense (CHD). Like WisnerBaum, CHD also has a number of pending lawsuits against agencies RFK Jr. would oversee as HHS Secretary.
RFK Jr. was previously accused of sexually assaulting a caretaker and was friends with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Putting RFK Jr. in charge of billions of dollars, thousands of women, and national secrets on health and drug research is a recipe for disaster.
What will RFK’s relationship with law firm Wisner Baum look like if confirmed?
As someone who has been open to the idea of limiting medicare, will RFK see any benefit from the expansion of private healthcare companies?
Questions to Track