The CEO of Philly Fighting COVID — an organization whose failed vaccine partnership with the City of Philadelphia made headlines last year — has reached a settlement with Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro.
The settlement between Shapiro and Andrei Doroshin, CEO of PFC and former Drexel University graduate student, banned Doroshin from involvement in charity, government, or health-related work in Pennsylvania for the next 10 years, according to WHYY. Doroshin was also ordered to destroy the personal data obtained through PFC’s vaccination pre-registration website, WHYY reported.
PFC was a nonprofit organization intended to raise funds for personal protective equipment manufacturing and COVID-19 testing, WHYY reported. The organization was established by a group of college students with little to no experience in public health, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
In January 2021, PFC partnered with the City of Philadelphia to provide the city’s first mass vaccination clinic at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. However, Philadelphia ended the partnership after PFC abruptly switched to a for-profit status, the organization failed to execute testing plans in minority neighborhoods, and the CEO was found to have taken doses of the vaccine for his own personal use, WHYY reported.
The agreement also will require Doroshin to pay $30,000 in restitution for damages caused under PFC, the Inquirer reported. Failure to meet this requirement by Sept. 5 will result in an additional $30,000 fine, the Inquirer reported.
Shapiro’s consent decree has been submitted for court approval. Once the court approves the decree, Doroshin will have 90 days to disband PFC, the Inquirer reported.
Shapiro charged Doroshin with unfair trade law, violation of Pennsylvania’s Solicitation of Funds for Charitable Purposes Act, and violation of nonprofit corporation laws, WHYY reported.
“Mr. Doroshin put people’s privacy at risk under the guise of serving as a nonprofit, and he is now being held accountable for those actions,” Shapiro said in a statement, according to the Inquirer.
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