Business Notes Investigations

The mystery of the poisoned Contac has apparently been solved. The alleged culprit, it turns out, was not interested in killing people but merely wanted to make a killing in the stock market. The FBI last week arrested Edward Marks, 24, of Temple City, Calif., and charged that last March he tampered with capsules of Contac and two other over-the-counter drugs manufactured by SmithKline Beckman. Nonlethal doses of rat poison were found in nine pills in stores in Houston and Orlando.

Before lacing the capsules, Marks, a former stockbroker trainee with Merrill Lynch, bought so-called put options in the stock of SmithKline. He knew that if the company's shares dropped in value, he could sell the options at a profit. Marks then called SmithKline and several news organizations and, identifying himself as "Gary," pointed them to specific shops in Orlando and Houston where the tainted capsules could be found. When the contamination was confirmed, SmithKline quickly recalled the products from the market at a cost to the company of $8 million. Ironically, Marks made no money for all his efforts because the price of the company's shares took only a two-day dip of 1/ before rising later that month. He was caught because his fingerprints--on file with the FBI as a result of an unspecified prior arrest--matched those found on a capsule bottle.