Ex-Siemens Healthcare VC sues for retaliatory firing

A former venture capitalist with the healthcare operation at Siemens (NYSE:SI) sued the company last year, alleging that he was fired in retaliation for blowing the whistle on an alleged extortion attempt. Andrew Jay’s 14-year tenure in the German industrial conglomerate’s Boston venture shop ended in November 2017, when he declined to accept a demotion he alleges was made after he told the Siemens compliance department of a contractor’s alleged attempt to strong-arm a startup company Siemens was considering for an investment. Formerly a managing partner and VP, Jay’s team in the summer of 2016 paid a visit to molecular diagnostics company Base4 to gauge its suitability for investment, according to Jay’s Dec. 27, 2017 complaint filed in Massachusetts’ Suffolk Superior Court. But the team decided it was too early to invest in Base4 and passed that recommendation up the ladder. The following spring, the contractor – Thomas Miller of GreyBird Investments, a former Siemens executive with a contract to provide dealflow to its VC shop – pitched Base4 as a potential investment, according to the lawsuit, which was removed to the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts last month. Miller’s contract was arranged by then-Siemens Healthcare CEO Bernd Montag and head of strategy David Stein, whose deputy Mary Amor also backed the proposed Base4 investment, according to Jay’s complaint. Jay then sent a pair of his own deputies to ...
Source: Mass Device - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: Diagnostics Funding Roundup Legal News Siemens Venture Capital/Private Equity Source Type: news