(Bloomberg) -- Gilead Sciences Inc. wants to claw back more than $4 million in legal fees the former chief financial officer of its Immunomedics unit racked up during a federal probe of insider trading allegations. 

Usama Malik, 48, was CFO when Gilead bought Immunomedics for $21 billion in 2020. This year he pleaded guilty to criminal charges that he tipped off his girlfriend about a successful clinical trial for a breast-cancer drug within minutes of learning himself, allowing her to bank more than $200,000 from stock sales. Malik was sentenced to six months of home arrest and fined $15,000. 

Under US law, corporate directors and executives have the right to demand that companies cover costs tied to legal actions taken against them for their acts on behalf of the firm. Companies can seek to recoup such expenditures if the employee is found to have violated legal duties. 

After his guilty plea, Gilead had “no further obligation to advance to Malik any fees and expenses” and “is entitled to recoup the fees and expenses that have been advanced,” according to the complaint filed Friday by the biopharmaceutical company in Delaware Chancery Court. 

Gilead’s push to recoup Malik’s fees is another in a growing wave of so-called clawback cases targeting both legal fees and compensation from executives involved in wrongdoing. 

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. went after a dozen executives in 2020 seeking to recoup millions of dollars in compensation to hold them accountable for the 1MDB corruption scandal. A year later, Steve Easterbrook, the former McDonald’s Corp. CEO fired over his sexual relationship with a subordinate, agreed to return $105 million in cash and equity awards to settle the fast-food chain’s clawback suit. 

The companies don’t always win. In June, former Hertz Corp. chief executive Mark Frissora defeated the rental-car firm’s bid to claw back his incentive compensation following his 2014 resignation in connection with an accounting scandal.

Gilead said in its complaint that it told the former executive he was obligated to pay back legal fees, but he rebuffed the request. 

“Malik responded through his defense counsel that he believed he was not obligated to repay any advanced fees before his sentencing and refused to provide any information or documentation of his financial assets,” according to the complaint.

Matthew Martinez, a lawyer who represented Malik in the criminal case, didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment. 

The case is Gilead Sciences v. Malik, 2023-1117, Delaware Chancery Court (Wilmington).

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