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David Abraham Blech (born November 25, 1955) is an American businessman, investor, and venture capitalist. He is one of the financial pioneers of the biotech industry and was once known as the "King of Biotech".

Early Career
Blech was born in Brooklyn, New York. He attended Baruch College and earned a Master's in Music Education at the Teacher's College of Columbia University. In 1980 he founded Genetic Systems, together with his father and his brother Isaac. The Blechs put up $200,000 of the family money to start the project. Genetic Systems was built around promising scientists, including the high profile microbiologist Robert Nowinski. The company went public in 1982 at $1.25 per share, and was sold to Bristol-Myers for $294 million in 1985.

In 1989, Blech formed Icos Corporation and received the largest start up financing in biotech history at $33 Million.

At his peak in 1992, Blech's wealth was estimated at almost $300 Million, briefly making him a member of the Forbes 400.

After a number of high risk investments, including a $10 Million investment into Fannie Mae warrants on margin, Blech and his brother Isaac had a falling out over the future investment strategy. Isaac wanted to focus on managing the existing family wealth, while Blech dreamed of becoming a billionaire. In 1990 their successful partnership came to an end and Blech formed his own merchant bank, D. Blech & Company.

Fraud Scandal
With the decline of the biotech market in 1993 Blech's aggressive investment strategies became a disadvantage. Blech only kept limited cash reserves and used his personal wealth to prop up the shares of floundering companies in his portfolio. In an attempt to buy time to ward off his creditors Blech engaged in the criminal practice of stock parking (buying stocks for the benefit of another) with one of his investors. Falling deep into debt, D. Blech & Co was in violation of net capital rules and ceased operations on September 22nd, 1994, a day that came to be known as "Blech Thursday" in the biotech industry.

Blech came under investigation by the SEC for securities fraud. During the investigation Lloyd Schwed, a Florida based attorney representing a group of former brokers, attempted to blackmail Blech by promising to withhold tapes subpoenaed during the investigation. Blech became an informant in exchange for leniency. He pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal fraud and was sentenced to a five year term of probation.

In its litigation release the SEC summarizes the mechanics of the fraud: "From approximately June through September 1994, David Blech, the chief executive officer of D. Blech & Co., Inc., orchestrated a massive manipulative scheme designed to increase or stabilize the prices of a number of the biotechnology securities for which D. Blech & Co. was a market maker. Silverman, the head trader at D. Blech & Co., and Prodani, a trader at another broker-dealer, participated in this scheme. As part of this scheme, David Blech routinely sold biotechnology stocks from D. Blech & Co.'s inventory accounts to brokerage accounts that Blech controlled that were in the names of other individuals and entities. These controlled accounts then sold the biotechnology stocks back to the brokerage firm or to other accounts controlled by David Blech. These trades created the appearance of active trading in the biotechnology stocks. Additionally, through this trading, Blech was able to reduce D. Blech & Co.'s inventory position in the biotechnology stocks, yet still artificially withhold from the market the supply of the biotechnology stocks.

Silverman personally executed manipulative trades at David Blech's direction and supervised other traders at D. Blech & Co. who executed manipulative trades. For instance, Silverman executed unauthorized transactions in customer accounts, including wash sales and matched orders, and parked securities in various customer accounts. Prodani also executed numerous manipulative trades in firm accounts and customer accounts maintained at the broker-dealer, including wash sales and matched orders. Additionally, Prodani, who was the registered representative for various customer accounts at the broker-dealer, executed purchases and sales in those accounts at David Blech's direction without consulting the account holders."

Personal Life
Blech suffers from manic depression, and has been treated for this throughout his entire professional career. This played a crucial role in his aggressive investment strategies and contributed to the leniency of his sentence.