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<h2 class="has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style="color:#5c4c4d">Whistle blower reveal that <strong>Trump administration is funding startup plasma company based in owner&#8217;s condo </strong></h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style="color:#5c4c4d">Govt funding of company which has neither proven technology nor manufacturing facilities <strong>is linked to lobbying by ex-GOP senator Rick Santorum</strong> </h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style="color:#5c4c4d">The former three-term Republican senator from Pennsylvania is part-owner of the South Carolina based company</h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style="color:#5c4c4d"><strong>Plasma Technologies LLC has received $750K seed money to test a possible COVID-19-fighting blood plasma technology</strong></h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style="color:#5c4c4d">Another<strong> much as $65 million could be on the way</strong> to build a commercial facility &#8211; far more than the $51.6 million the company was seeking in govt. funding</h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style="color:#5c4c4d"><strong>It&#8217;s another in a series of contracts awarded despite concerns over the proposals</strong></h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style="color:#5c4c4d"><strong>Records obtained by the AP describe senior Trump appointee Dr Robert Kadlec as a key supporter of Plasma Tech, owned by Eugene Zurlo</strong> </h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style="color:#5c4c4d">Zurlo presented to HHS that the company had production facilities in SC</h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style="color:#5c4c4d">AP reports that it&#8217;s investigations show that Plasma Technologies operates out of Zurlo&#8217;s condo in in Charlotte, SC </h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style="color:#5c4c4d">The &#8216;production facilities&#8217; cited by by the Trump administration is non-existent</h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style="color:#5c4c4d"><strong>Three years ago, Republican donor Zurlo brought Rick Santorum</strong> aboard as co-owner of the floundering startup</h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style="color:#5c4c4d"><strong>Santorum told the AP it would have been a &#8216;crime&#8217; if he hadn´t used his influence to get Plasma Technologies recognized; &#8216;Shame on me if I hadn´t,&#8217; he said</strong></h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Rick-Santorium-2.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-358018"/><figcaption><strong>&#8216;Shame on me if I hadn´t,&#8217; Ex-GOP Sen. Rick Santorum [photo], in press interview owned up to the money grab. The Trump administration could give $65million of COVID cash to a plasma company that operates out of a Republican donor&#8217;s CONDO after lobbying by part-owner Rick Santorum</strong></figcaption></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The Trump administration is set to hand over $65million of COVID pandemic funds to a plasma company that operates out of a Republican donor&#8217;s condo, according to reports by the AP. ;<br>The company, Plasma Technologies LLC, which claims its technology will turn human plasma into protein-rich antibody therapies, has already received an initial grant to test the possible COVID-19-fighting blood plasma technology. ;<br>Tens of millions in additional funding could be on the way ;after lobbying by ex-Republican senator and part-owner of the company, Rick Santorum. ;<br>This has raised flags as another in a series of contracts awarded despite concerns over their proposals voiced by government scientists. ;<br>Santorum admitted his role when he told the AP it would have been a &#8216;crime&#8217; if he had not used his influence to get Plasma Technologies recognized; &#8216;Shame on me if I hadn&#8217;t,&#8217; the GOP politician said. ;</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Eugene-Zurlo-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-358002"/><figcaption><strong>Sponsor: Republican donor Eugene Zurlo seen [photo],with his wife Charlotte, has Plasma Technologies operating out of his condo in SC. He took on ex-senator Santorum as co-owner three years ago. Santorum has just positioned the startup to reap $65M in covid funds from the Trump administration</strong></figcaption></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Santorum, a three-term GOP senator from Pennsylvania is co-owner of the ;obscure South Carolina company that reportedly, has been operating out of founder luxury condo according to internal government documents. <br>Three years ago former pharmaceutical industry executive Eugene Zurlo&#8217;s, a well-connected Republican donor himself, is said to have ;brought Santorum aboard as a part-owner. <br>The Trump administration recently gave the longtime Republican political donor seed money to test a possible COVID-19-fighting blood plasma technology, noting their &#8216;manufacturing facilities&#8217; in Charleston. However AP is reporting that they conducted an investigation and found the touted manufacturing facility to be non-existent.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Eugene-Zurlos-Charleston-S.C.-condominium-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-357999"/><figcaption><strong>Eugene Zurlo&#8217;s Charleston, S.C., condominium, the reported manufacturing facility for Plasma Technologies LLC</strong></figcaption></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Plasma Technologies may not be the only with bogus &#8216;manufacturing facilities&#8217;.<br>Other controversial contract awards over internal objections include a $21 million study of the heartburn drug Pepcid as a COVID therapy.<br>Another company, ApiJect Systems America, a startup with an unapproved medicine injection technology was as awarded more than a half-billion dollars to supply its devices. Furthermore, ApiJect was awarded the contract despite having no factory to manufacture the devices.<br>Highlighting the rash of ill-vetted awards a government whistleblower has claimed that a $1.6 billion vaccine contract to Novavax Inc. was made over objections of scientific staff..<br>At the center of these deals is Dr. Robert Kadlec, a senior Trump appointee at the Department of the Health and Human Services, who backed the Pepcid, Novavax and ApiJect projects. ;<br>Records obtained by the AP also describe Kadlec as a key supporter of Plasma Tech. ;</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Donald-Trump-5.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-357152"/><figcaption><strong>Inexplicable pandemic response: Tone deaf and scatter shot approach to covid fight by Trump administration is highlighted by the series of contracts awarded despite concerns over their proposals voiced by government scientists</strong></figcaption></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Kadlec has come under pressure from the White House to act with more urgency and not be bound by lower-level science officials whom Trump has castigated as the &#8216;deep state&#8217; and accused of politically motivated delays in fielding COVID-19 vaccines and remedies.<br>Of more than a dozen blood plasma industry leaders and medical experts., few had heard of Zurlo´s company or its technology for turning human plasma into protein-rich antibody therapies, and would not comment, the AP reports<br>Zurlo in an email has claimed that the shortage of plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients, which is needed to make these therapies, underlines the need for the technology he´s patented to harvest as many of these proteins as possible.<br></p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Robert-Kadlec-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-358005"/><figcaption><strong>Senior Trump appointee, Dr. Robert Kadlec, [photo], has been cited in these contract contract awards by whistleblowers. The Dept. of the Health and Human Services official allegedly, has backed the Pepcid, Novavax and ApiJect projects</strong></figcaption></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In early April, shortly after Congress supplied hundreds of billions of dollars to combat the pandemic, Santorum allegedly, stepped up his charm offensive on behalf of his company and their &#8216;disruptive and transformative,&#8217; technology.<br>At the center of these controversial awards is Dr. Robert Kadlec, a senior Trump appointee at the Department of the Health and Human Services. Described as a key supporter of Plasma Tech, Dr. Kadlec allegedly also backed the Pepcid, Novavax and ApiJect projects. <br>While a HHS spokesperson said Kadlec &#8216;does not have a role in technical review of proposals nor in negotiating contracts,&#8217; Santorum told the AP he communicated directly with Kadlec, whom he described as &#8216;very supportive&#8217; of Plasma Technologies.<br>In mid-August, the federal government awarded Plasma Technologies a $750,000 grant to demonstrate that it could deliver on its promises.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Eugene-Zurlos-Charleston-S.C.-condominium-2.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-358006"/><figcaption>An AP investigation found no manufacturing facilities. The company operates out of Zurlo&#8217;s condo. He and his partners may now be in line for as much as $65 million in taxpayer money</figcaption></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Skeptical HHS experts didn´t see Zurlo´s technology as worthy of millions in emergency pandemic funding, consequently, the initial pitch by the three-time senator who now works as a lobbyist, was a bust.<br>Sources revealed that the experts at an agency known as BARDA, which is overseen by Dr. Kadlec, who were seeking COVID-19 vaccines and therapies for immediate delivery, believed the Plasma Technologies project was a longer-term project. <br>It&#8217;s pitch failed, Plasma Technologies turned to the Defense Department, another participant in the government´s COVID-19 response. ;<br>The company submitted a proposal in May, obtained by AP, was seeking sought $51.6 million in government funding to build a plasma fractionation facility in Raleigh, North Carolina, or Atlanta.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Eugene-Zurlos-Charleston-S.C.-condominium-3.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-358009"/><figcaption><strong>HHS has disbursed an initial grant of $750,000 to the startup with $65 million in government funding to come later for a manufacturing facility</strong></figcaption></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The break through for Plasma Technologies came in late July, after Steven Morani, a senior Pentagon official interested military brass in the idea of a U.S.-owned and operated facility to manufacture plasma-based therapies.<br>Subsequently HHS disbursed an initial grant of $750,000 to the startup according to the government emails, with as much as $65 million in government funding to come later for a commercial facility, nearly $14 million more than Plasma Technologies was seeking in their proposal. ;<br>Reacting to the AP story Santorum, has accused the reporter of writing a &#8216;political hit piece.&#8217; </p>



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