• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year

2

Apple’s Steve Wozniak says he cofounded the tech giant after 5 rejections from HP—not to ‘make money.’ For years, his paycheck was just $50

3

Indeed chief economist says we’re entering an era of ‘great mismatch’ thanks to a generational imbalance of workers

1

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year

2

Apple’s Steve Wozniak says he cofounded the tech giant after 5 rejections from HP—not to ‘make money.’ For years, his paycheck was just $50

3

Indeed chief economist says we’re entering an era of ‘great mismatch’ thanks to a generational imbalance of workers
FinanceTerm Sheet

The ‘Expedia for Prescription Drugs’ Sued By Ex-Employee

By
Erin Griffith
Erin Griffith
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Erin Griffith
Erin Griffith
Down Arrow Button Icon
November 8, 2016, 4:14 PM ET
Pills and capsules
Photograph by Nenov — Getty Images

This item originally appeared in Term Sheet, Fortune’s newsletter about deals and dealmakers. Sign up here.

Blink Health is a startup that aims to make generic drugs cheaper through price transparency and a slick smartphone app. It has been called the “Expedia for prescription drugs.” The company launched in February and has raised more than $75 million in venture funding. Now its co-founders, Geoffrey and Matthew Chaiken, are being sued in the Southern District of New York by Eugene Kakaulin, its ex-CFO, for breach of contract and violating the protective whistleblower provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act by firing him after he allegedly alerted them to securities violations.

The New York Post reported on the suit last week using a very New York Post headline: “Generic Viagra peddler accused of stiffing business partners.” (Update: The Wall Street Journal broke the story a couple of hours earlier.)

The lawsuit involves a familiar name: Joe Lonsdale’s new firm, 8VC, is an investor in Blink. Other investors named in the lawsuit include Burch Creative Capital, the venture firm of J. Christopher Burch (co-founder of the fashion brand Tory Burch), MedImpact, and Bill Doyle, the man that introduced Bill Ackman to Valeant.

Doyle may have introduced the Blink founders to Valeant, too: The lawsuit alleges that they were eager to sell some of their shares in Blink to a third party because one of them “lost half [his] money on Valeant stock.” (Other reasons cited include the need for a Hamptons house.) The complaint includes many accusations against Blink and the Chaikens: Using stolen data from a competitor, inflating revenue with an unorthodox accounting method, not paying vendors, misrepresenting transaction data, maintaining an unethical consulting relationship with an employee of MedImpact (a vendor and strategic investor), forcing employees to buy back their stock options when they left.

There’s even a sad text exchange between CEO Geoffrey Chaiken and his father, Dr. Barry G. Chaiken, over stock options, which is included as evidence in the lawsuit: “As a parent it is concerning that if this is your approach to us, your treatment of other people in life and business suggests a future no loving parent wants for their child,” the alleged text reads.

One of the Chaikens loaned the company $4.8 million, requiring quarterly interest payments on it, to “take advantage of losses generated by the company and to offset their personal income in 2015, which was primarily from the sale of equity in Blink,” the complaint alleges. The complaint also accuses Matthew Chaiken of using Blink’s customer relationship management dashboard to analyze and openly discuss the drug purchase history of employees and people he knows socially.

Blink Health provided the following statement: “The complaint is false, malicious and unjustified as a matter of fact and law. The plaintiff is angry that he was terminated for cause and the complaint reflects his malicious and untrustworthy character.” 8VC did not provide a comment.

Lonsdale isn’t mentioned by name in this lawsuit. He has been involved in a few others in recent years, though. In 2015, he was sued for sexual assault by an ex-girlfriend. Lonsdale denied the allegations, and the case was dropped, but the shocking details that emerged from that suit reverberated around the Valley. The investors in Formation 8, his venture fund at the time, reportedly did not know about the lawsuit when they invested. Formation 8 broke up in 2015. Last month that break-up was the subject of a detailed BuzzFeed investigation, which describes Lonsdale’s failed attempt to bring Silicon Valley startups like Wish into Asia.

Lonsdale is also a defendant in an ex-employee lawsuit against Hyperloop One, the well-funded transportation startup. Lonsdale invested in Hyperloop One via Formation 8 and sits on its board. That lawsuit accuses Lonsdale of breaching his fiduciary duty when he allegedly insisted the company hire his younger brother as the company’s exclusive investment bank and frequently asked Hyperloop One engineers to stop working so they could give tours to his friends.

8VC’s website currently features an essay Lonsdale penned in August called “A Deficit of Leadership.” It includes lines like, “Great leaders must understand how to act in such a way that they exhibit all the virtues in unison,” and quotes Cyrus the Great, Confucius, and Jesus Christ.

About the Author
By Erin Griffith
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Finance

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Finance

f
Energyfraud
Nonprofit fraud isn’t surging. Enforcement is
By Sarah Webber and The ConversationMay 24, 2026
1 hour ago
w
Personal FinanceWhite House
From Hobbes to the 14th amendment: the ancient and modern cases against Trump’s $1.8 billion fund
By Austin Sarat and The ConversationMay 24, 2026
1 hour ago
m
Real EstateSpain
‘We want neighbors, not tourists.’ Madrid’s renters march with message for the boom economy
By Alicia Leon and The Associated PressMay 24, 2026
2 hours ago
SpaceX’s next-gen rocket is the key to its sky-high valuation, early investor says: ‘Starship also enables all kinds of frontier markets’
Startups & VentureElon Musk
SpaceX’s next-gen rocket is the key to its sky-high valuation, early investor says: ‘Starship also enables all kinds of frontier markets’
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezMay 24, 2026
4 hours ago
40 is the new 50: Millennial jobseekers are giving their resumes a facelift by hiding years of experience to land jobs
Future of WorkCareers
40 is the new 50: Millennial jobseekers are giving their resumes a facelift by hiding years of experience to land jobs
By Jacqueline MunisMay 24, 2026
5 hours ago
bofa
AIProductivity
BofA says you’ll be 10x more productive with AI. Ignore the 0.1% result so far
By Nick LichtenbergMay 24, 2026
5 hours ago

Most Popular

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year
Success
Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year
By Preston ForeMay 21, 2026
3 days ago
Apple’s Steve Wozniak says he cofounded the tech giant after 5 rejections from HP—not to ‘make money.’ For years, his paycheck was just $50
Success
Apple’s Steve Wozniak says he cofounded the tech giant after 5 rejections from HP—not to ‘make money.’ For years, his paycheck was just $50
By Preston ForeMay 22, 2026
2 days ago
Indeed chief economist says we’re entering an era of ‘great mismatch’ thanks to a generational imbalance of workers
Success
Indeed chief economist says we’re entering an era of ‘great mismatch’ thanks to a generational imbalance of workers
By Emma BurleighMay 22, 2026
2 days ago
Microsoft reports are exposing AI's real cost problem: Using the tech is more expensive than paying human employees
AI
Microsoft reports are exposing AI's real cost problem: Using the tech is more expensive than paying human employees
By Jake AngeloMay 22, 2026
2 days ago
This 39-year-old quit his lineman job during the pandemic and built a $50 million company in his backyard
Success
This 39-year-old quit his lineman job during the pandemic and built a $50 million company in his backyard
By Nick LichtenbergMay 23, 2026
1 day ago
Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 
Workplace Culture
Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 
By Preston ForeMay 19, 2026
5 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.