Clint Eastwood has been a longtime investor in free radical pathology, not many people probably knew until Tuesday when he sued the maker of a supplement said to boost the immune system, charging he was swindled out of medical patents.
The actor and Oscar-winning director sued Molecular Defenses Corp. and its chief executive Kevin Davis in New York federal court, claiming he was swindled "through outright usurpation, covert intellectual property transfers and corporate shell games," according to The Hollywood Reporter.
According to a federal electronic filing, Eastwood had been a longtime investor in the late Dr. Harry Demopoulos and his work in the field of free radical pathology. Before he died last year, Demopoulos devoted much of his work to the research and development of glutathione, a supplement said to boost the immune system.
Eastwood argued that he was a substantial shareholder in Demopoulos' company, Antioxidant Pharmaceuticals Corporation. The lawsuit said that in late 2015, APC went through an alleged restructuring, consolidating businesses under the umbrella of a newly formed entity, Molecular Defenses Corporation.
"In the midst of this allegedly voluntary restructuring, however, Dr. Demopoulos unexpectedly suffered a massive stroke in early 2016," the lawsuit states.
"It was at this tragic time when defendants pounced, seizing Dr. Demopoulos' business (and six U.S. glutathione patents) for their own ends."
Eastwood accused Davis of incorporating another entity — also named Molecular Defenses Corporation —while Dr. Demopoulos was undergoing recovery in the hospital, THR said.
"Defendants caused the preparation of a subscription agreement — purportedly signed by Dr. Demopoulos by his 'Attorney in Fact' — providing for the assignment of the six U.S. glutathione patents from APC to Defendant Molecular Defense Holdings, LLC in exchange for membership rights in this Defendant-entity."
The lawsuit charged that since Demopoulos' stroke and death the Eastwood Trust had tried to obtain information from Molecular Defense Holdings concerning the business operations, shareholders and intellectual property of the doctor's companies.
"But Defendants refuse to provide even the bare-minimum; instead, they spent the last two years employing a strategy of inordinate delay with kind words, empty promises and the trickling of incomplete, contradictory and the vaguest of information," the lawsuit stated.
Eastwood started shooting his latest movie, "The Mule" this week in Las Cruces, New Mexico for Warner Bros. production, filming several scenes downtown and in the city's St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, according to the Las Cruces Sun News.
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