6. People Discussed Using Virginia Employees As Dietary Guinea Pigs
This is perhaps the craziest idea contained in the indictment. In August 2011, following an email from Bob McDonnell to Virginia's secretary of health, Maureen McDonnell met at the Executive Mansion with Williams and one of the secretary's senior policy advisors. At that meeting, according to the indictment, Williams discussed the idea of having Virginia government employees use Anatabloc, Star Scientific's anti-inflammatory dietary supplement, "as a control group for research studies."
This wasn't the only time this kind of idea came up. In October 2011, according to the indictment, Maureen McDonnell accompanied Williams and a research scientist who consulted for Star Scientific to a company event in Grand Blanc, Mich. They took Williams' private plane, and during the flights there and back, they discussed the potential health benefits of Anatabloc, the company's anti-inflammatory dietary supplement, and the need for clinical studies. The scientist later emailed Maureen McDonnell a summary of their discussions. In it, he suggested it might be useful "to perform a study of Virginia government employees
to determine the prevalences [sic] of autoimmune and inflammatory conditions."
7. Bob McDonnell Told Virginia Officials That He Took Anatabloc
On March 21, 2012, Bob McDonnell met with Virginia's secretary of administration and one of the secretary's aides, to talk about the state's employee health plan, and ways to reduce costs. At that meeting, McDonnell pulled some Anatabloc out of his pocket. He allegedly told the secretary that Anatabloc had beneficial health effects, and that he was taking it, and that it was working well for him.
McDonnell allegedly suggested that they reach out to the "Anatabloc people."
