Ashley Madison customers revealed; Mark C. Trudeau, paid more than $12 million a year at Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, appears at cheaters' Web site

(From stltoday.com)

A pharmaceutical-company CEO, who is paid more than $12 million a year, appears on the Missouri list of paying customers at the Ashley Madison extramarital-affairs Web site, according to publicly available records.

Mark C. Trudeau is global chief executive officer and president of Mallinckrodt PLC, which has its executive base in Staines-upon-Thames, England. It has a manufacturing operation in Dublin Ireland, with U.S. headquarters in St. Louis, MO (at 675 McDonnell Blvd.).

Trudeau worked at four other major pharmaceutical companies -- Covidien, Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Abbott Laboratories -- before taking on the top job at Mallinckrodt in 2013. He has significant international experience, serving as a division president or manager in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Asia/Pacific region. From the Wikipedia entry for Mallinckrodt:

Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, based in Staines-upon-Thames, England, with its U.S. headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, produces specialty pharmaceutical products, including generic drugs and imaging agents.

Mallinckrodt manufactures and distributes products used in diagnostic procedures and in the treatment of pain and related conditions. This includes the development, manufacture and distribution of specialty pharmaceuticals, active pharmaceutical ingredients, contrast products and radiopharmaceuticals. The company employs 5,500 at 47 locations around the world. Net sales were $2 billion in 2011.

No wonder the company can afford to pay Trudeau well. According to a January 2017 article at the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Trudeau's compensation had shot up 29 percent, to $12.6 million:

Mallinckrodt Chief Executive Mark Trudeau's pay jumped 29 percent to $12.6 million as the company rewarded him for a year when profits more than doubled.

Mallinckrodt, a drug company that is legally Irish but has its headquarters in Hazelwood, disclosed details of its executive pay in a proxy statement last week.

Trudeau's pay included a salary of $1.04 million and a bonus of $1.6 million, which was 127 percent of the target amount. He also received $5.9 million in stock and $3.9 million in options, with some of the stock depending on Mallinckrodt's revenue growth and total shareholder return between 2016 and 2018.

An earlier stock award, from 2014, paid out at 200 percent of its targeted amount. That brought Trudeau shares worth $2.5 million at current prices.

The CEO's windfall did not end there:

Trudeau also received $101,003 in contributions to a supplemental savings plan and $16,535 in tax reimbursement. The tax reimbursement was for executives whose spouses or partners attended a national sales conference.

Mallinckrodt's earnings per share more than doubled during fiscal 2016, which ended Sept. 30. Its share price rose 9 percent.

Trudeau's golden parachute, the amount he would receive if he leaves Mallinckrodt after a takeover, is valued at $26.7 million.

Mallincrodt markets imaging products mostly to hospitals, physicians, and technologists. But its specialty brands and generics likely can be found at your nearby retail drug store or pharmacy. Mallinckrodt is a major manufacturer and distributor of opiods, including several forms of hydromorphone and oxycodone. Generics include acetaminophen (pain/fever), clomipramine (antidepressant), dextroamphetamine (ADHD), and fentanyl citrate (severe pain).

The company also is known for Acthar, a controversial, expensive drug for treatment of lupus, multiple sclerosis, and infantile spasms. According to the Medicare Drug Spending Dashboard for 2015, it was the single most expensive drug, per patient, that the government paid for during the course of last year. Of the 3,100 beneficiaries using Acthar, Medicare spent an average of $162,371.

Personal information about Trudeau is scarce. Our research indicates he is married to Susan H. Trudeau, and it appears they have three children. They once owned a residence at 55 Chesterfield Lakes Rd. in metro St. Louis, but they apparently sold that. Property records show them owning a home in Columbus, Ohio.

We sought comment from Mr. Trudeau, and Michael-Bryant Hicks, general counsel for Mallinckrodt, responded with the following statement:

Mr. Shuler,

As the General Counsel for Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, I'm responding to your email to Mark C. Trudeau, dated October 30, 2017. This communication is to inform you that Mallinckrodt, amongst other measures, has completed a forensic analysis of both the data released to the public following the hack of Ashley Madison and the content of the website since the date it was hacked. By that analysis, the company has verified that Mr. Trudeau has never had any experience with Ashley Madison or that company's website. He has not registered nor in any way made any use of the website. Therefore, the content of your email is either a case of mistaken identity or someone impersonating Mr. Trudeau as a serious prank. In either case, the allegations you intend to make are not true. If you recheck the facts, you will be forced to come to the same conclusion.

I ask that you refrain from publishing your inaccurate story, which could be damaging to Mr. Trudeau's reputation. Should you persist in your plan, you will be liable for defamation under the law.


Sincerely,
Michael-Bryant Hicks
General Counsel
Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals

Mark Trudeau certainly has an enviable salary, but his tenure at Mallinckrodt has involved a few bumps in the road. The Federal Trade Commission and five state attorneys general sued the company for anti-competitive behavior -- and Mallinckrodt settled in January 2017 for $100 million. It was part of a U.S. Senate report last year on price gouging in the prescription-drug industry. A prominent investor has accused Trudeau and Mallinckrodt of fraud.

We will examine these issues in an upcoming post.


(To be continued)


Previously:

Article with links to 1-40 in Ashley Madison series

(41) David Armistead, director of enterprise sales, TekLinks, Birmingham (10/19/17)

(42) William House, VP and controller, HealthSouth, Birmingham (10/26/17)

(43) Olin B. Barnes III, VP, One Resource Group, Birmingham (11/1/17)

(44) T.J. Bunn Jr., ST Bunn Construction, Tuscaloosa (11/2/17)

(45) Todd Deffenbaugh, VP and controller, Express Oil Change, Birmingham (11/6/17)

(46) Richard D. Crites, lawyer and reserve deputy, Springfield, MO (11/13/17)