Debtors' Prison For Daddies
A former biotech industry biggie is up for six months in jail for non-payment of child support:
A man considered one of the founders of Seattle's biotech industry has pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge of failing to pay child support.Robert Nowinski was the founder of four publicly traded biotech companies: Genetic Systems, which worked to develop antibodies for use in cancer treatment; Icos; PathoGenesis; and VaxGen. He also helped found another biotech company, Primal.
According to federal prosecutors, Nowinski is about 125-thousand dollars behind on child-support payments for his three children. His attorney says Nowinski is unemployed and was wiped out after a 2002 bankruptcy.
Correct me if I've been misinformed, but for no other offense do we put bankrupt people in default on their payments to creditors into jail. Now, there's no way to know from this piece whether Nowinski truly is penniless, or might be hiding funds in some twisted revenge plot. If, however, Nowinski truly is unemployed and without funds, won't sending him to jail only hurt his kids' chances of seeing any support?
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