In September 2024, a statement spread on Telegram that close relatives of Douglas Emhoff are shareholders of the largest manufacturer of puberty blockers. We have verified the authenticity of such publications.

The viral posts are based on an English-language video, lasting just over a minute, allegedly published by the BBC. It states that the family of Douglas Emhoff, the husband of US presidential candidate Kamala Harris, owns shares in the pharmaceutical company AbbVie, the maker of the hormone drug Lupron Depot, which blocks puberty, is available for use in children with gender dysphoria as young as eight years old, and allegedly causes infertility. From this, the authors of the video conclude that Emhoff is interested in popularizing the use of puberty blockers. The end of the video notes that Harris was already suspected of a conflict of interest when, in 2015, California prosecutors led by the current presidential candidate refused to investigate Herbalife, and the company's interests were defended by a law firm owned by Emhoff.

The video was published by such Telegram channels as “Bocharik (yep, that same one)"(166,000 views at the time of writing the analysis), "Kot Kostyan - official channel"(150,000), "Culturally"(103,000), "Only girls in jazz" (55,000) and "Yyhu Moscow"(46,000).

Video source: social networks

Although the problems of the LGBT+ community in general and trans people in particular not included Among the topics that most concern Americans in the run-up to the presidential election, they are often mentioned in the election campaigns of both candidates. Harris - sequential advocate for queer and transgender rights, and many activists support her candidacy, despite past reproaches, suspicions and accusations. The rival of the current vice president, Republican and former head of state Donald Trump, on the contrary, exploits in his speeches and statements the topic of transgenderism, promising, if he wins the elections, to “protect children from the gender madness of the left” and cancel LGBT+ protections introduced by the Joe Biden administration. In 2023 politician spoke and against the illegal use of puberty blockers, and also demanded an investigation into their manufacturers.

Transgender-related issues were also discussed during the Trump-Harris debate, which took place on the night of September 11, 2024 Moscow time. For example, Trump statedthat if elected president, his rival is going to “carry out transgender operations on illegal immigrants in prison.” Apparently, this is a distorted retelling of a recent CNN story - journalists said that in 2019, while participating in the Democratic primaries, Harris answered questions in an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) questionnaire. In particular, the politician noted that she considers it important to provide all necessary medical care related to the transgender transition to people dependent on the state, including those in prison.

The AbbVie corporation mentioned in the video is one of largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Among its most popular developments are drugs for the treatment chronic lymphocytic leukemia, arthritis, psoriasis, hepatitis C and many other diseases. AbbVie shares publicly traded, total outstanding are more than 1.7 billion securities.

"Verified" was unable to find any reputable reporting that Emhoff or his close relatives ever purchased shares of this pharmaceutical company. The authors of the viral video do not name the source of their information. According to American laws, AbbVie is required to disclose information about investors (individuals and legal entities) who own more than 5% of its shares. In the annual report for 2023 indicated two such shareholders: investment companies The Vanguard Group (9.08%) and BlackRock (8.1%). Judging by the official declarations Harris, her husband is relatively active in investing, but prefers less risky securities, primarily exchange-traded funds, rather than stocks (ETF). However, even if Emhoff, through his relatives, owned a minority stake in AbbVie, convicting him on this basis of popularizing puberty blockers is just as justified as popularizing the fight against cancer and other diseases for which the company sells drugs.

AbbVie actually makes the drug Lupron Depot mentioned in the video. According to description drug from the company's website, it can be used in children aged eight to nine years to treat precocious puberty. This pathology not very common: It occurs in one in 5,000 to 10,000 girls and even less often in boys. Children who begin puberty earlier than usual may experience difficulties communicating with others and, as a result, psychological problems. Treatment implies inhibition of puberty until the age of onset of “normal” puberty (8–13 years in girls and 9–14 years in boys).

The viral video also states that Lupron Depot is used for gender dysphoria, that is, the discrepancy between a person’s gender self-identification and his biological sex. The materials on the AbbVie website do not mention such an application of this development, although similar drugs are true may be assigned when diagnosed to delay puberty. In 2021, Texas Attorney General Kevin Paxton announced about the opening of an investigation into AbbVie and several other companies - they were suspected of advertising puberty blockers as remedies for adolescents who had already entered puberty with gender dysphoria. At the time of writing this analysis, Paxton's office is still didn't present investigation results.

According to the authors of the video, the use of Lupron Depot can lead to infertility in patients in the future. This side effect is not reported by AbbVie or the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which tests drugs before they go on the market. Among the possible negative consequences, the FDA names skin reactions, discomfort And intracranial hypertension.

Finally, the video recalls the 2015 scandal surrounding Herbalife. As California's attorney general, Harris allegedly refused to prosecute a corporation that sells dietary supplements for allegedly using deceptive marketing practices. And the interests of Herbalife were protected by the law firm Venable, owned by Emhoff. Husband of the future Vice President of the United States joined to this company in 2006, received share in it and a few years later became managing director of the offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The story surrounding the failed investigation into Herbalife surfaced in the press back in 2019, when Harris was running her first presidential campaign. By data American media, Emhoff himself did not participate in representing the interests of Herbalife, but the reasons why his wife ignored the calls of her colleagues to initiate a case are still not precisely known.

In other words, the video, allegedly released by the BBC, contains an uncharacteristic number of errors, inaccuracies and sloppy wording for such a large and reputable media outlet. Although the design of the video resembles the content of the British Broadcasting Corporation, you can find it on the official resources of this media (website, accounts in Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube And TikTok) failed. The design of the viral video differs from what the BBC has been using lately: the publication refused to show the logo at the beginning of the video, and also mainly accompanies the video sequence with a voice-over commentary and does not use background music.

On the left is a frame from the original BBC video, on the right - from distributed video

When comparing the original BBC videos and the viral video, it is noticeable that the font is different. This can be seen in the letters a, k, g, s.

Comparison of fonts in BBC video (top screenshot) and in distributed video (bottom screenshot)

The earliest publication that featured a video of Emhoff's connection to AbbVie that Verified found was posted in the Telegram channel “Cat Kostyan - official channel” on September 6 at 18:53 Moscow time. This pro-Kremlin channel was also mentioned in other discussions "Checked." Distribution on such resources of videos allegedly published by the BBC and other international media, not uncommon.

Thus, there is no evidence that Emhoff's relatives own any significant stake in AbbVie and are therefore interested in distributing puberty blockers. To confirm this information, Telegram channels used a fake video masquerading as a BBC story.

Cover photo: The White House/Flickr