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CytoDyn’s 2022 CEO Ouster: FDA Criticism, Fraud Convictions and Later Case Developments

CytoDyn’s January 2022 CEO ouster preceded federal fraud convictions, company-reported closure of agency investigations, and separate legal developments in 2026.
From TheFinanceBase Team3 min to read
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CytoDyn’s board removed CEO and president Nader Pourhassan in January 2022, after a year marked by FDA criticism of leronlimab’s COVID-19 data, lawsuits and investigations. The later record is more specific than the original headline: a federal jury convicted Pourhassan in 2024, the company reported in 2025 that the SEC and DOJ had effectively closed their investigations of the company, and separate criminal and shareholder-litigation matters continued into 2026.

How the CytoDyn story developed

Date Subject What happened and its status
May 2021 FDA assessment of leronlimab The FDA said the available data from two small COVID-19 trials did not support clinical benefit. This was the agency’s assessment of the evidence, distinct from company statements and shareholder allegations.
January 2022 CytoDyn leadership The board removed Pourhassan as CEO and president. Contemporary GeekWire reporting said CFO Antonio Migliarese would serve as interim president while the company searched for a CEO.
December 2022 Pourhassan and Amarex CEO Kazem Kazempour The DOJ and SEC announced charges concerning alleged misrepresentations about leronlimab, clinical results and regulatory submissions. At that point, the charges were allegations, not verdicts.
December 2024 Individual criminal cases A federal jury convicted Pourhassan on four securities-fraud counts, two wire-fraud counts and three insider-trading counts. Kazempour was convicted on one securities-fraud count and one wire-fraud count.
September 2025, as later reported by CytoDyn SEC and DOJ investigations of the company CytoDyn said the agencies informed it that their respective investigations were “effectively closed” and that nothing further was required of the company. This company disclosure concerned the investigations of CytoDyn, not the resolution of every individual case or civil suit.
January 2026 Pourhassan and Kazempour, separately CytoDyn reported that Pourhassan was sentenced on January 23 and that Kazempour was granted a new trial on January 26. The new-trial order applied to Kazempour, not Pourhassan.
February 2026 filing Shareholder securities class action CytoDyn reported an agreement in principle to settle for cash and shares, subject to final documentation, court approval and other conditions. The filing did not establish final approval or completion.

What the FDA said about leronlimab

In May 2021, the FDA’s stated view was that the available evidence did not demonstrate COVID-19 clinical benefit. The agency’s statement, quoted in contemporaneous GeekWire reporting, said: “it has become clear that the data currently available do not support the clinical benefit of leronlimab for the treatment of COVID-19.” That is a regulatory assessment of the trial data; it should not be conflated with claims about what company executives intended or what investors lost.

What the federal jury found—and what happened afterward

The December 2024 convictions converted the earlier criminal charges into jury verdicts. The FDA’s release describing the case said the government alleged false or misleading statements about an incomplete HIV biologics license application and leronlimab’s COVID-19 development and results. The release said Pourhassan sold more than 4.8 million CytoDyn shares immediately after announcing an HIV application submission in spring 2020, and that CytoDyn raised approximately $300 million from investors during the scheme described by prosecutors and the jury case. These figures are presented in the government’s account, not as independent measures of investor losses.

Nicole M. Argentieri, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General and head of the DOJ Criminal Division, said: “The defendants lied to investors and the public — including during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic — about a drug that purportedly treated HIV and COVID-19 in order to artificially inflate CytoDyn’s stock price,”

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Pourhassan’s sentence

CytoDyn’s 2026 SEC filing reported that Pourhassan was sentenced on January 23, 2026, to 30 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. The filing also said he was ordered to surrender by April 27, 2026, and to pay $5,392,280 in restitution.

Kazempour’s new-trial order

The same company filing reported that Kazempour was granted a new trial on January 26, 2026. That was a separate procedural development in his case; it did not reverse or apply to Pourhassan’s sentence.

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Are the SEC and DOJ investigations still ongoing?

As of CytoDyn’s February 2026 Form 10-Q, the company said the SEC and DOJ had told it in September 2025 that their respective investigations were effectively closed and that no further action was required of CytoDyn. This wording describes the company’s account of communications about its own investigations. It does not mean individual criminal proceedings ended: the filing separately reported Pourhassan’s sentence and Kazempour’s new-trial order.

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What remains unresolved in the reviewed filings

  • Shareholder settlement: CytoDyn’s February 2026 filing described only an agreement in principle, conditional on final documents, court approval and other requirements. It did not verify that the settlement was finally approved or completed.
  • Current CEO: The reviewed materials do not establish who CytoDyn’s CEO is as of October 8, 2026. The January 2022 interim-president report should not be treated as a statement of current leadership.

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