♪
[beeps]
[turbine whirring]
[sirens wailing]
[tires screeching]
Sir! We're gonna need you to put that case down
and put your hands in the air.
Put down the stolen property
and put your hands in the air, sir.
This isn't stolen property.
I didn't steal anything!
This is mine!
[phone ringing and buzzing]
[grunts softly]
[groans]
Oh, my God, Marissa, this better be important.
Okay, all right. Well...
Do me a favor, call Benny,
tell him that, uh, I'll pick him up.
And then send me an e-mail with who it is,
what they did, and what they want.
BENNY: Dr. Edwin Pruitt, undergrad
at Caltech, PhD at MIT.
Widely considered one of the world's leading experts
on Parkinson's disease.
Huh. Wait a second.
Did Marissa explain to you what this man is being accused of?
Not really.
Well, man's basically being accused of being a traitor.
So what exactly did he do?
Broke into a place called Bressadyne Labs
only hours after being fired.
Prosecutor's claiming he stole sensitive genetic materials,
which he had arranged to sell for top dollar to a lab
partially owned by the United Arab Emirates.
Wow. [jail cell door closes]
I need you to understand, I am not a criminal.
I'm a scientist.
I just want to continue my work.
So tell us what you do.
What your work is for this Bressadyne Labs.
Well, my entire career has been devoted to the study
of a single disease, Parkinson's.
Ten months ago,
I found the answer.
Are you saying you found a cure?
An actual cure for Parkinson's disease?
That's what I'm saying.
I mean, certainly there's more work to be done
before it's realized, but, yes, I found a path to the cure.
I know what to do.
Now it's just about having the resources
and wherewithal to do it.
You understand what an audacious statement that is?
I do, but I've spent my whole life fighting this disease.
I wouldn't risk my reputation on something
that's not provable, something that's not certain.
Dr. Pruitt, if that's the case, then why are you here?
Sounds to me like you should be on the cover
of Timemagazine, not in federal lockup.
You'd think so.
When I showed Dr. Alfred Latham, head of Bressadyne Labs,
what it was I found, he was beside himself.
Then, a week after my presentation,
everything changed.
Key members of my staff were transferred.
My funding was cut.
Authorizations for the most mundane tasks were held up.
My work ground to a crawl.
I believe Latham and Bressadyne's board of directors
decided to kill my project.
That doesn't make any sense. Why would they do that?
Greed.
Think about it.
If you don't cure someone,
they keep coming back to buy more treatment.
They're the perfect customer.
So, you're saying they killed
the possibility of a cure for the money?
As soon as I understood what was happening,
what they were doing, I began searching for a new lab
that would actually support my research.
As soon as Bressadyne realized that I was looking around,
talking to other labs, they fired me.
Why did you talk to labs in foreign countries?
I had to.
Every American lab I approached
was terrified of the employment agreement
I'd signed with Bressadyne Labs.
Why?
Because basically it says
Bressadyne owns my work.
All my work.
They're not saying they just own the work I did
during my tenure with them.
They're saying they own every bit
of Parkinson's knowledge in my head
irrespective of when I acquired it.
They're claiming I assigned it all to them. All of it!
Did you?
[clears throat]
We understand your position, Dr. Pruitt.
But you signed the contract.
You read it.
And frankly, in your field,
these types of invention assignment provisions
are fairly standard.
I entered into that contract in good faith.
I, I certainly didn't agree to let them bury my work.
I mean, we're talking about a cure
that could potentially help millions of people.
BULL: So, Bressadyne fired you,
and then you broke back in to get your...
My studies, my samples, my research.
I need those genetic materials if I'm gonna complete my work.
Well, I respect the hell out of your dedication, Dr. Pruitt,
but there had to be another way.
Yeah, you could have sued Bressadyne,
come to some sort of an arrangement.
Mr. Colón, you said it yourself.
I signed that employment agreement with Bressadyne.
Even if I could have gotten out of that contract,
you're a lawyer-- how long would that have taken?
How many years? How much would it have cost?
I'd be wasting valuable time inside a courtroom
instead of a lab, which is where I need to be.
And I'm not a kid.
Halfway through my 50s.
Time is the one resource I really can't squander.
Be that as it may...I was four years old.
When I was in the car with my grandfather,
he drove right through a red light.
Barely missed hitting a woman walking her dog.
Turns out his foot went stiff. He couldn't hit the brake.
It was early-onset Parkinson's.
He was 49.
My father was 47
when the symptoms first became apparent.
I've had mild tremors
for about 18 months now.
I'm living on borrowed time, gentlemen.
I have all the genetic markers for the disease.
The date's already been set.
I just don't know when it is.
Will you help me?
♪
MAURICIO: But you promised we could watch a movie tonight.
I know, sweetie, but a man's in trouble and needs my help.
You'd want someone to help Mommy
if she needed help, wouldn't you?
We didn't even get to finish feeding the ducks.
[knocks on door]We always feed the ducks on Saturday.
What if they get hungry?
I bet if you ask your dad really nice,
he'll take you back to give them the rest of the bread.
And... [gasps]
What if we do a makeup Saturday?
We'll pick a day and just... turn it into a Saturday.
We'll feed the ducks, have pizza for breakfast,
watch a movie.[door unlocks]
Oh, my goodness.
Now, which one of you is Mauricio?
[laughs] Oh.
Sorry.
I'm Rachel. Taylor?
It's a gift. Uh, Erik's just finishing up a phone call.
But it's so great to meet you guys.
I've heard so many good stories.
Really?Yeah.
There's the boy.
[growls playfully]
You guys got here quick.
Yeah. Well, as soon as I got off the phone with you,
I threw his things in his backpack.
So, you both met Rache.
You betcha, we did.
Can I speak to you for a sec?
RACHEL: I was just baking cupcakes.
Would that interest you at all?
Little bit.RACHEL: A little bit? Come on.
We had a deal, remember?
We said we wouldn't introduce Mauricio
to anyone we hadn't been dating for at least six months,
and we'd tell each other beforehand.
Hey, I didn't put this in motion. You did.
Rachel was already here when you texted.
[phone chiming]And the way I read it, you needed
a favor, and I said yes.
I have to go.It's all right.
You can apologize and thank me later.
Thank you for taking my day at the last minute.
You're very welcome.
Bye, Mauricio! I love you, and I'll miss you!
I'll tell him.Sure, you will.
ROSENBERG: FBI Special Agent Braxton,
can you sum up your findings?BRAXTON: Well,
the Bureau concluded that Dr. Pruitt
had negotiated a deal
to sell Bressadyne Labs' Parkinson's research
along with his own services to a company
called the Anzir Institute,
a biotech lab in Dubai.
And can you tell us who the majority shareholder is
in the Anzir Institute?
The government of the United Arab Emirates.
And what are the potential ramifications
of a sale of these types of sensitive biological materials
to a foreign government?Well,
most gene therapies that treat disease
involve two elements:
the payload and the transport.
The payload is typically the corrected gene material.
The treatment, if you will.
And the transport delivers this payload
into the damaged organ.
And this was the case with Dr. Pruitt's research?
Yes. In fact,
Dr. Pruitt was very much on the cutting edge.
He was using viruses as the transport mechanism.
Now, under most circumstances,
these viruses would be very noncontagious.
But Parkinson's
occurs in the brain.
And the brain has so many defenses
that Dr. Pruitt was forced to engineer
a much more contagious virus to breach those defenses.
So are you saying these viruses can be...
weaponized?
Absolutely.
If the wrong people got their hands on Dr. Pruitt's viruses,
it's entirely possible.
No further questions at this time, Your Honor.
Mr. Colón, the witness is yours.
W-Weaponized viruses?
That can't have gone over well.
O ye of little faith.
Nice to meet you, Agent Braxton.
Nice to meet you.Yeah.
I-I'm-I'm confused, sir.
Uh, Dr. Pruitt wasn't charged
for the manufacture of a biological weapon
under the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act, was he?
Well, no, but...
That's because the virus he was using
to develop a cure for Parkinson's
isn't actually a weapon,
is it?
Not at the moment, no. But...
No, no. I mean, in fact,
you would need an extraordinary amount of resources
to weaponize that virus, wouldn't you?
Well, yes.
You'd likely need an active bioweapons program
at the very least.
Wow.
An "active bioweapons program."
[inhales] Whew.
Sounds like those are few and far between.
[smacks lips] Do you know if the UAE has one of those programs?
No.
No, they do not.Ah.
And does the U.S. government consider the UAE to be an enemy?
To be hostile towards its interests?
No. No, we don't.
In fact, isn't it true that the UAE is actually one
of our closest allies in the Middle East?
I suppose, yes.
Under most circumstances, that would be a yes.
So, once again,
just to be 100% clear,
you're saying that the UAE is not our enemy?
No, they are not.
So not only are they likely incapable
of weaponizing this virus,
eh, they really have no incentive to.
I suppose, yes.
That's correct.
All right. Thank you.
No further questions, Your Honor.
Redirect, Your Honor?
Agent Braxton, are you familiar with Boris Ivonsky?
BRAXTON: I am.
He's a Russian oligarch and a major investor
in the Anzir Institute in Dubai.
He's also known to have previously passed on
sensitive manufacturing technology to the Kremlin.
[whispers]: I've never heard of this person.
ROSENBERG: Russia. Now, they are
our enemy, are they not?
Without a doubt.
And does the Russian government have the resources
to weaponize Dr. Pruitt's viruses?
Yes. In fact,
they have one of the most aggressive bioweapons campaigns
in the world.
So, if Dr. Pruitt had been successful
in turning over his research as planned,
the Russians could have conceivably gotten
their hands on it?BENNY: Objection,
Your Honor.
The prosecutor's question requires speculation.
I'm going to allow it.
Objection overruled.
ROSENBERG: I'll repeat the question.
If Dr. Pruitt had been successful
in turning over his research as planned,
the Russians could have conceivably gotten
their hands on it?
Absolutely.
Ivonsky is one very small step away from the Kremlin itself.
And isn't it also true that once the Russians had possession,
they could have weaponized it
and unleashed it on anyone?Your Honor,
this is inflammatory.
Perhaps our troops...This is speculation.
This is ridiculous....or even our civilian
populations in a bio-attack?
[murmuring]
So much for not being in bed with the enemy.
Marissa. Yeah, I'm gonna drop Benny off so he can prep
for tomorrow, and then I am coming back into the office.
If you can get the team to hang around...
Edwin did what he did 'cause he had to.
Not 'cause he wanted to betray the United States,
not 'cause he wanted to get rich selling cures
to a foreign government.
He did what he did
'cause Bressadyne was gonna mothball all of his research,
all of his hard work,
and make sure a cure never became available.
And that is our narrative.
Now,
let's talk about our first witness tomorrow.
Edwin's old boss,
Dr. Latham.
Here's a question--
have we found anything to prove
that Bressadyne intentionally shut down Edwin's cure?
Also, is there anything
we can ask this guy that'll force him to confess
or perjure himself?
I don't know what to tell you, Dr. Bull.
I've been through everything the U.S. Attorney's Office received
from Bressadyne, all the discovery,
and so far I haven't found a single document
that backs up Edwin's theory.
Okay, but Benny said something about making a request
for additional discovery.
Do we know anything about that?
I do.
The judge granted our motion,
but Bressadyne's saying they have already turned over
everything they have regarding the Parkinson's project.
Well, they can say that all they want,
but I don't believe it.Why not?
Bressadyne does profit calculations on everything.
Constantly.
Including their Parkinson's project.
But ever since Edwin's breakthrough,
there hasn't been a single projection on Parkinson's.
Not one.
I think the lab is either hiding them or they've deleted them.
I just can't prove it.
Now, wait a second. Aren't you the one who's always telling me
that nothing digital ever completely disappears?
I've been known to say that.
So find them.
You mean hack Bressadyne?
I can try.
The thing is, if I dofind anything,
I'll have obtained it illegally.
And don't you want to be able to use these documents in court?
Well, for Bressadyne to allege
that we obtained the documents illegally,
they would have to admit that the documents actually exist.
And if the documents exist,
that means they were withholding them from discovery.
So do it.
[taps keyboard]
[groans]
[phone chimes]
[sighs]
At least someone's getting some sleep.
Look. Erik just sent over
a "good night, Mommy" pic from Mauricio.
[sighs] I feel so guilty, making him go to his father's again
in the middle of the week.
Oh, come on. He's with his father.
It's not like he's at the orphanage in Oliver Twist.
[chuckles]He probably got to stay up a half an hour later,
watch a movie you'd never let him see, and...
sleep in his underwear.
[sighs]
He has a girlfriend.
Mauricio?
Isn't he a little young for that kind of thing?
My ex.
And Mauricio's crazy about her.
And I think she's probably there all the time.
And I know nothing about her,
except that she's young.
This will pass.
Girlfriends come and go.
Girlfriends get older.
[chuckles softly]But Mauricio only has
one mother.
And that is you.
There's nothing to be insecure about.
You have that job for life.
I know.
[exhales]
Well, hello there.
Striking up a conversation with your computer?
No, no.
I just found something.
I think it's some sort of hidden directory.
It doesn't appear on any of their sitemaps.
Whatever it is, they certainly didn't want anyone to see it.
I had to get through four internal firewalls to get here.
[beeping]
We're in.
My God,
how many files are they hiding?
Dozens.
[beeping]
Oh.[gasps]
Where'd they go?Shipwreck.
They moved them.
Their system must have detected me.
It's released some sort of automatic countermeasure.
That doesn't sound good.
It isn't.[beeping]
They're following me back out.
Probably to plant some sort of malware on our system.
I've got to erase our trail before it gets to...
[gasps]
[alarm beeping]
What was that that you said before?
Oh, shipwreck.
Great. Thanks, Marissa. [exhales]
What's the good word?
There is no good word.
The evidence we need... [exhales]
exists online.[sighs]
But, apparently, our systems are down, so we can't retrieve it.
And according to Danny and Taylor,
that is not a coincidence.
LATHAM: So, all told,
Bressadyne Labs invested more than six years
and close to $37 million
in the research that Dr. Pruitt... participated in.
Dr. Latham, you called it
"the research Dr. Pruitt participated in."
I'm curious about your choice of words.
Clearly, you don't think of that as Dr. Pruitt's research.
No. It would never occur to me to think of it that way.
The research belongs to the people
who paid to make it possible.
It's like a... mechanic fixing your car
and then deciding to drive it home
because they suddenly think they own it.
ROSENBERG: No further questions, Your Honor.
Good morning, Dr. Latham.
Now, isn't it true
that when you originally recruited Dr. Pruitt,
you said you needed him on your team
because you considered him to be
the world's top Parkinson's researcher?
I did.
And I do.
Dr. Pruitt has always done really cutting-edge work.
Uh, he has, hasn't he?
A-And do you recall a conversation you had
with Dr. Pruitt on March 27th of last year,
where he informed you of a major breakthrough he had
with the transport mechanism of his Parkinson's cure?
I do. Although I wouldn't characterize it
as a major breakthrough.
Really?
Huh.
Uh, uh...
Let me see if I understand this.
Dr. Pruitt solves a problem
that has been vexing researchers all over the world for years,
and you don't consider that to be a major breakthrough?
No.
Not really.
The transport mechanism
is simply a component of a much larger
and much more complicated system.
Now, I understood Dr. Pruitt's excitement.
But his so-called breakthrough
hardly constituted the discovery of a cure.
I mean, you'd be shocked at how many times a week
one of our researchers comes to me with a "major breakthrough."
Uh, psychologically, I understand
they need to celebrate the little bits of progress.
And I expect that's because the path to real success
is filled with so many setbacks.
But that's the... nature of what we do.
I see, but here's the part I don't understand.
Only weeks after Dr. Pruitt, the man you just testified
you consider to be the world's top Parkinson's researcher,
uh, made his "bit of progress,"
you reduced his staff by 83%
and slashed his budget by about the same amount.
I mean, it sounds like
you were trying to turn his bit of progress
into a major setback.
Wouldn't you agree?
No. I wouldn't.
Bressadyne Labs is a very large company.
Parkinson's is one of 14 major drug groups
that make up our firm.
We needed to shift that funding
to other pharmaceutical initiatives
that were at more critical junctures.
Projects that were on the cusp
of greater progress, if you will.
And that's what we did.
Ah.
So this was a financial decision?
Absolutely.
We might be in the business of saving lives,
but we're still a business.
You know, that's really interesting,
because according to the documents
you handed over in discovery,
you didn't do any financial forecasts
with regards to Dr. Pruitt's work
before making these decisions.
Well...In fact,
you haven't performed any financial analysis
of his work in ten months.
Well, as it happens,
our accounting department is backed up lately.
People working from home, no support staff.
But... sometimes...
sometimes you don't need a spreadsheet
to tell you what you already know--
that a tough decision has to be made.
I promise you, Dr. Pruitt's supposed breakthroughs
were primarily theoretical,
and we had very real and very pressing,
practical reasons for moving the funding.
If you say so.
But apparently your accounting department wasn't too busy
to generate a financial forecast for the lupus group.
I mean, hell,
they generated a financial forecast
for them every single month last year.
And they weren't too backed up for multiple sclerosis
or Crohn's disease, for that matter.
According to the documents you surrendered to the government,
they all got a monthly financial report.
So a skeptic would think that
maybe you did run the numbers for Parkinson's
and for some reason
decided not to share them here with us today.
Any chance that might be the case, Dr. Latham?
No chance at all.
Really? You don't think that maybe you ran the numbers
and discovered that selling treatments
for Parkinson's disease was far more profitable
than selling people a one-time cure?
I'm asking you a question, Dr. Latham.
Objection! Counsel is badgering.
I've spent my entire adult life doing medical research.
I'd never stand in the way of a cure!
But you know who would?
Your client Dr. Pruitt.
In fact, it might interest you to know that the night he stole
the refrigerated vials from our lab,
he left the freezer open.
It was open all night. We lost hundreds of samples,
hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of research
in other treatments and cures destroyed.
BENNY: Objection, Your Honor. This is the first time
I'm hearing about this.Dr. Pruitt set us back years.
He deliberately sabotaged us.No foundation has been laid
for this accusation.That's who you're defending!
The witness can't just sit here and accuse my client
of anything he wants...A man doing everything he can
to put a great and storied...[gavel bangs]
Order! Order in this courtroom!...pharmaceutical company out of business.
Dr. Bull, there is no way
on God's earth that I would leave that freezer door open.
I've been dealing with biological samples for 30 years.
It's like washing your hands before you eat.
You just do it. You close the door without thinking.
There's got to be video. There has got to be video.
I-I'm sure there is. It's just a question
of getting them to surrender it,
getting it entered into evidence in time.
In time for what?
In time to change their minds.
Marissa, I apologize, but I suddenly realized,
I had to run out and pick up my son.
Don't worry about it. We are all good here.
The entire system is behaving
like nothing ever happened, thanks to you.
You're sweet to say that.
Oh, I should be back in about... 45 minutes,
and if it's okay with you, I'll be bringing my son.
No. Why are you even coming back?
We're all good here.
The boys are already halfway through court today,
so just go get your little guy and go home.
Oh, no.
What's wrong?
I just spotted my son,
but his father is nowhere to be seen.
Looks like he left him with his new best friend Lolita.
Who?
Oh, just someone
he picked up at the last jailbait meet-and-greet.
I have to go. [sighs]
Mom!
Hey, little man.
You good? I missed you so.
Mommy had to work all night.
Well, he missed you terribly, too.
He made me read all of his stories exactly the way you do.
If I got the emphasis wrong,
or I didn't do the character voices just right,
I had to start again from the beginning.
[gasps] Mauricio.[laughs]
It's okay. He knows what he likes. Nothing wrong with that.
Well, thank you for reading to him.
I had no idea he was gonna be with you guys all night.
I'm so sorry. I h-hope we didn't ruin anything.
Oh, are you kidding? He was the highlight of the evening for me.
He's my bud. We're crazy about each other.
[laughs]Erik around?
Uh, no, I haven't seen him today.
He'd already gone by the time we got up.
You're kidding. He just left Mauricio with you?
Yeah. Well, we really like each other.
Still, that just doesn't seem very smart.
I mean, leaving my little boy with a stranger. No offense.
Uh...I mean, I barely know you. Mauricio barely knows you.
MAURICIO: 914-555-0153.
[chuckling]: What's that?
It's my phone number.
She's not a stranger, Mommy. I know her phone number.
He asked me to help him memorize it
in case he ever wanted to call me.
Why would he want to do that?
[scoffs]
Okay, can I just pay you?
For what?
No, I don't...Thank you so much.
Come on, kiddo. We got to go.
What are you mad about, Mommy?
She's really nice. I like her.
I'm not mad.You look mad.
I'm not mad.
Dr. Pruitt, would you ever intentionally
put your research in the hands of a foreign government
you believed wished to do harm to the United States?
Of course not.
Would you ever intentionally destroy the work
of a fellow scientist?
God, no.
I, more than almost anyone, understand how painstaking
and time-consuming it is to collect and cultivate samples.
Anyone who would
knowingly sabotage that kind of effort...
Do you remember leaving that freezer door open?
I do not.
And there are cameras all over that facility,
and there are alarms on those freezer doors.
I find it hard to believe
that if it was left open, it was for very long,
and if I was the one that did it,
why we haven't seen any video to back that up.
Score one for our team.
BENNY: Dr. Pruitt,
approximately how many people a year die
from Parkinson's disease?
About 230,000 worldwide.
So that's 18,000 a month, 4,000 a week,
and 600 each and every single day?
That's correct.
Wow. Those are some big numbers.
But this is not just about statistics for you.
Your grandfather died of Parkinson's, didn't he?
Yes, he did.
And your father-- he died of Parkinson's as well?
Yes. I lost him when I was only 32 years old.
But what was harder than losing him was watching him suffer
for so many years prior to that.
It's hard to forget the first time you have
to lower your father into a bathtub
because he doesn't have the strength to do it himself.
Or to feed your grandfather
because he can no longer hold a spoon.
That's one of the reasons I've spent
20 years bent over a microscope.
And it's why I went back to Bressadyne that night
to retrieve my research.
I just couldn't stand by
and let them bury my work,
not when so many are suffering the way my family suffered.
Thank you, Dr. Pruitt.
No further questions, Your Honor.
Mr. Rosenberg, the witness is yours.
Thank you for sharing that, Dr. Pruitt.
But... do you have any actual proof
that your employers were trying to bury your work?
Proof, not opinions? Proof,
not conjecture?
Well, as I believe has already been discussed,
they stripped me of staff, slashed my budget.
Which proves nothing.
It's the job of a business to make sure
their resources are properly allocated.
And while you may disagree with what they were doing,
it's hardly proof that they intended
to shelve or suppress your work.
No. I-I'm talking about real proof.
Reports, e-mails.
Not theories, not suppositions. Proof.
Do you have any of that, sir?
No, but if you could...So without any
tangible proof, you believed
you had the right to put on a ski mask
and steal Bressadyne Laboratories' property?
I retrieved my research,
which I've been working on for three decades.
Research which I believe will someday save lives.
Well, I'm confused.
If your purpose is to save lives,
then why aren't you making your research available
to the medical community for free?
Doctor, I asked you a question.
Isn't it true you solicited competitors
of Bressadyne from all over the globe,
seeking enormous sums for the privilege of acquiring
what you keep calling "your work,"
the very work you stole from Bressadyne?
The money I was seeking wasn't for me.
It's gonna require significant resources
to complete the work necessary to arrive at a cure.
I needed to know
that whatever company I brought my research to,
they'd provide the capital necessary to get the job done.
Be that as it may, the Anzir Institute
wasn't the only foreign lab that offered
to purchase the research, was it?
There was another pharmaceutical lab in Norway, wasn't there?
One in Belgium, as well-- is that correct?
They made offers...So you had other options
to sell the research that didn't involve labs
owned by Middle Eastern governments
with alarming ties to Russia.
Isn't that correct?
As I've said before, I was completely unaware
of any Russian connection.
And the Anzir Institute far and away
provided the most resources for the project.
The most resources for the project
or the most resources for your bank account?
In truth, the Anzir Institute offered you the largest salary--
more than double the next closest offer, didn't they?
That was immaterial to me. It was the money they were
willing to commit to equipment,
staffing and ongoing research...
Immaterial or not, you were poised to make millions
more than had you remained at Bressadyne,
isn't that correct?It was in no way the motivation for what I was...
You're not answering my question!
By stealing Bressadyne's property and offering
to deliver it to a competitor, you stood
to personally make millions-- yes or no?
Yes.
So you're admitting it?
You stole dangerous viruses, sold them to the highest bidder,
and stood to profit handsomely for having done so.
Am I missing something?
BENNY: Objection!
Asked and answered.
Counsel is testifying.
Counsel is being argumentative.
Shall I go on?
That's all right, I withdraw my question.
Mr. Colón is right.
The jury already knows the answer.
I have no other questions for this witness, Your Honor.
So, when I hacked into Bressadyne's system,
I got locked out before I had a chance to open
any of the hidden files, but I was able
to grab a screen shot of some of the file names.
And when I compared those to the material we received
through discovery, I noticed there was one hidden document
they actually did turn over.
The minutes from the April meeting
of Bressadyne's board of directors?
It's the meeting they held right after Edwin's breakthrough.
Maybe I'm missing something,
but if they already turned it over, how does this help?
I compared the file sizes.
This one, the one Bressadyne disclosed to us,
is 75 kilobytes.
The one they're hiding... is 182 kilobytes.
So you're saying they erased part of the minutes?
Certainly looks that way.
Maybe the part having to do with Edwin
and his breakthrough.Exactly.
So then it occurred to me, if we can just find someone
who was in that meeting to take the stand.
I don't think that's gonna happen.
I mean, CFO, CSO, general counsel.
Everyone in that room was senior management at Bressadyne.
Benny's right-- we're never gonna get
anybody from the board of directors to take
the stand and admit to any of this.
But aren't there usually other people in the room, too?
People to actually take the minutes?
Record the meeting?
Mrs. Rhineglass?
Nera Rhineglass?
My name is Danny James.
I'm an investigator working for Dr. Pruitt's defense team.
I'd love to speak with you for a minute.
I believe you know what I'm talking about.
Actually, I'm not sure I do.
I believe you took the minutes
for the board of directors
meeting last April?
I'm sorry, what is this about?
We believe the minutes were altered
before being handed over in discovery.
Altered? How?
This is what they sent us.
The people that you work for.
We believe they deleted a considerable portion
of the original document, removing any mention
of Dr. Pruitt or his work.
We believe they tampered with evidence.
That is a federal crime. And I have a hunch
that when we call the authorities' attention to it,
the people that you work for will profess ignorance
and tell us that the preparation of the minutes
is yourresponsibility
and that any impropriety in that preparation
is your fault.
[gavel bangs]
BENNY: Mrs. Rhineglass?
As Dr. Latham's executive assistant,
did you record the minutes for the April 3 board meeting?
I did.Now, are these
the complete and accurate minutes
for that meeting?
Mrs. Rhineglass?
The, um...
they...
They are accurate.
But they're not complete.
Pages are missing.
BENNY: What pages are missing?
All the pages where they were discussing
Dr. Pruitt's Parkinson's project.
BENNY: Well, that's odd.
This is all Bressadyne Labs provided.
Mr. Rosenberg, Mr. Colón.
Can I see you at sidebar?
I must say that I'm disturbed
by what I'm hearing.
Mr. Rosenberg, was your office aware that
Bressadyne Labs intentionally withheld relevant documents?
No, Your Honor, we were not.
In fact, I'm as interested in where this is going as you are.
Well, then, Mr. Colón, let's proceed.
Okay, uh...
Mrs. Rhineglass, since we don't have
the completed minutes, would you please, uh,
tell the court what the board discussed
with regard to Dr. Pruitt's project?
Well, they were all very excited.Mm-hmm.
Apparently Dr. Pruitt had solved some big problem
with this Parkinson's drug.
A bunch of them were saying how close he was to a cure.
Ah. Sounds like it was a celebration.
Yeah, it was... for a few minutes.
And then Dr. Latham and our CFO distributed
a financial analysis.
A financial analysis?
On the Parkinson's project?
Well, I don't recall seeing that in discovery.
So, uh...
they did run projections on Edwin's research?
Of course. All kinds of projections.
And they were talking about profit margins
and year-over-year earnings
and life expectancies.
And what did they conclude?
Honestly, I didn't understand most of it,
but I did get that the company was starting to realize
that they would make more money treating Parkinson's
rather than curing it.
BENNY: So...
Bressadyne's board
knowingly edited these minutes
so the world would never know
how close they were to a cure?
It would seem that way.
And if Edwin didn't take his research back,
Bressadyne Labs would have successfully buried it
and the world would have been that much further away
from conquering this deadly disease?
Yes.
It would seem that way.
BENNY: Thank you.
No further questions, Your Honor.
If we can't get my work back, it doesn't really matter.
Dr. Pruitt, it's all a process, okay?
It-it doesn't happen all at once.
I thought this was the process.
I thought we just completed the process.
I thought when the trial was over, the process was over.
Whoa, everything all right, Edwin?
You seem upset.Well, I am upset.
We just won this case. You just told me
that I was found not guilty.
But according to Mr. Colón,
I'm not getting my work back-- my samples, my research.
Well, that's not what happened today.
What happened today is the U.S. Attorney dismissed
the charges against you.
Same thing.
And he's now going after Dr. Latham for perjury
and the board members of Bressadyne
for tampering with evidence, and you got your freedom.
All in all, I'd say that's a win.
And obviously I'm happy about all that,
but I need my work back.
My freedom means nothing to me if I can't continue...
if I, if I don't have the ability to continue my work.
Dr. Pruitt, the AUSA does not have the power to do that.
No one does. Legally Bressadyne Labs still owns your work.
They have since the moment you signed that contract.
Edwin, let me explain what's about to happen.
Tonight, tomorrow, websites, newspapers
all over the world are gonna write about what happened today.
Bressadyne is a publicly traded company.
The public needs to trust that what they make is safe
and effective-- that is fundamental to their
continued success. They don't want to go down in history
as the company that came up with the cure
for a major disease but then flushed it all down the toilet
because they wanted to make more money selling you a pill
you had to take every day for the rest of your life.
What does all that have to do with me?
I'll make you a bet.
I'll bet you a million dollars
that by the end of the day tomorrow,
Bressadyne is going to call you and beg you
to work with someone else, anyone else.
Because their reputation
depends on you being released from your contractual
obligations and your research returned to you
so that you can find a cure.
You really believe that?
I just said I'd bet a million dollars, didn't I?
BENNY: It's like I said,
everything's a process.
Just give us a day, please?
Wow.
I'm impressed.
You're really putting your money where your mouth is.
Well, I know what I know.
And I believe what I believe.
Thank you, Dr. Bull.
Thank you, Mr. Colón.
I'm sorry if I seemed ungrateful.
I understand now. I trust you.
Even if it takes more than a day.
Even if it takes a couple of days.
I know if you say it's gonna happen,
it's gonna happen.
It's gonna happen.Great.
So I guess we'll talk tomorrow?
Or in a couple days.
So, you actually have a million dollars?
You know I don't have a million dollars.
So, what if Bressadyne doesn't call?
They'll call.
Yeah, but what if they don't?
They'll call. They have to call.
Their backs are to the wall.
Yeah, but what if they don't?
Theoretically, I mean, what if they don't?
Well, then I guess Edwin will have to sue me.
[laughs] Wow, man.
You think he's gonna need a good lawyer?
Maybe, do you know one?
Hey, I could win that case.
What are you talking about?
You don't even know how to get to the courthouse.
If I didn't pick you up every morning and bring you here,
you'd be in a different line of work.
Yeah, what are you so afraid of, huh?
You're my friend. I'd go easy on you.
I'm not your friend. I had a child with your sister.
Your highly successful sister. And she pays me a lot of money
to keep you employed.
A lot of money.
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Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org