PETA Statement: SEC Investigating Inotiv Under Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

For Immediate Release:
August 15, 2023

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA primate scientist Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel regarding reports that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating monkey importer Inotiv under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act:

The walls may be closing in on companies that profit from the cruel trade in monkeys, and it could not happen fast enough. PETA has repeatedly said that the forest-to-laboratory monkey-abduction pipeline is rife with corruption, and it appears that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may have finally listened. Inotiv—a major supplier of endangered long-tailed macaques to U.S. laboratories—is the subject of a new SEC investigation focusing on whether the company complied with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the federal law that prohibits bribing foreign officials among other issues. The disclosure was made public in the company’s second-quarter earnings report.

This SEC action comes after the U.S. Department of Justice issued subpoenas to Inotiv and Charles River Laboratories in a probe of a monkey-smuggling operation. The SEC is also investigating Charles River, a disclosure made in the company’s recent earnings report.

Companies and universities that experiment on monkeys should switch to superior, human-relevant, non-animal research methods—and they should do so quickly.

For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.