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Nader Pourhassan

Executive

PPP
Type
Person
Role
Executive
Programs
PPP
Updated

The profile

Former CytoDyn chief executive; charged by the SEC and indicted by DOJ over statements about the drug leronlimab, including as a COVID-19 treatment; convicted by a jury and sentenced to 30 months.

Identity and role

Nader Pourhassan was president and chief executive officer of CytoDyn, the company promoting leronlimab as a potential COVID-19 treatment during the pandemic. His exposure runs through securities law, not PPP.

Biography / career arc

Pourhassan led CytoDyn through years of efforts to commercialize leronlimab.

Pandemic-relief / PPP-EIDL role

The company pursued trials of leronlimab for COVID-19 and ran a steady stream of press releases. Prosecutors cited, among other statements, an April 2020 release claiming CytoDyn had "completed" a Biologics License Application submission to the FDA when, the government alleged, the filing was incomplete and the company knew it.

Their own relief

No PPP or EIDL loan to Pourhassan personally is established in the public record.

The SEC charged Pourhassan on December 20, 2022, and a federal grand jury in the District of Maryland indicted him days earlier, alleging securities fraud and insider trading around the leronlimab claims. On December 9, 2024 a Maryland jury convicted him on nine counts (four of securities fraud, two of wire fraud, three of insider trading). On January 23, 2026 he was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison, $5,392,280.31 in restitution, and forfeiture of more than $4.4 million. He was ordered to surrender by July 20, 2026; the surrender date was later reset (ECF No. 426), and on September 22, 2026 the court denied his motion to remain free on bail pending appeal. (His co-defendant, former Amarex CEO Kazem Kazempour, was convicted by the same jury, but the court granted him a new trial in January 2026, vacating those convictions.)

Where they are now (2025–2026)

Pourhassan, of Lake Oswego, Oregon, is a convicted and sentenced defendant with an appeal pending. On September 22, 2026, the district court denied bail pending appeal and a stay of restitution, and ordered him to report for self-surrender on the date it had set. He no longer leads CytoDyn.

  • Sapan Desai — Surgisphere founder behind the retracted hydroxychloroquine studies.
  • Robert Kramer — fellow pandemic-medical controversy principal.

Sources

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