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Solari North American Video Server“I quit. Friday I walk away from the company I started 20 years ago and grew into 650 U.S. employees and $1 billion in sales of over 100 new medical devices. I didn’t quit because I’m old–I’m 56–or want to play golf. The reason I sold my company and ended a career I loved is to avoid the risk of being criminally prosecuted under the federal government’s “responsible corporate officer” doctrine for the second time.” ~ Howard Root, WSJ
By Catherine Austin Fitts
Inasmuch as a heroic tale with a happy ending always inspires us, you will enjoy our next Solari Report.
Meet Howard Root, founder and former CEO of Vascular Solutions, Inc. Howard started Vascular Solutions with an idea and $300. He sold it last month to Teleflex, Inc. for $1 billion. Along the way, he defended himself and his company against an unwarranted DOJ prosecution at a cost of $25 million. His success after five years of litigation while continuing to lead a publicly traded company is a legal and business thriller – one that he and co-author Stephen Saltarelli retell in Cardiac Arrest: Five Heart-Stopping Years as a CEO on the Feds’ Hit List.
What Howard describes in Cardiac Arrest is the “criminalization of America” – a phenomenon that will destroy our economy if left unchecked. He closes the book with a series of practical, sound improvements we can make to our justice system to reverse course.
The WSJ described the Vascular Solutions litigation in an editorial in April 2016:
“It’s a good day when an honest company succeeds against attempts to criminalize an honest business. Even sweeter would be if Congress and DOJ used the occasion to institute reforms to ensure accountability for prosecutions that never should have happened.”
In the hopes that reform is sooner rather than later, I ordered a copy of Cardiac Arrest for Attorney General Sessions, asking him to meet with Howard when he is in Washington in the first week of April. My letter is shown below. If your senator is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I invite you to send them a copy. If not, you can send one to Attorney General Sessions as well.
It’s the last week of the month so no Money & Markets. I am headed to Belgium and the Netherlands this week. Get ready for the 1st Quarter Wrap Up – the Clash of Civilization the following week when I will respond to your next round of questions for Ask Catherine.
Talk to you Thursday!
LETTER BY PRIORITY MAIL
Hon. Jefferson B Sessions III
Attorney General
US Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
March 24, 2017
Re: Letter of Support for Meeting Request (April 3-6) with Howard Root on Immediate DOJ Actions to Make America Great Again
Dear Attorney General Sessions:
I have arranged for a copy of Cardiac Arrest: Five Heart-Stopping Years as a CEO on the Fed’s Hit List by Howard Root to be delivered to your office by separate package. It is one of the most inspiring books I have read.
Mr. Root is the founder and former CEO of Vascular Solutions, a successful Minnesota medical device company sold to Teleflex Incorporated last month for a total consideration of $1 billion.
Cardiac Arrest tells the story of Mr Root’s successful defense of himself and his company against an unwarranted DOJ qui tam investigation and prosecution. It closes with suggestions of practical steps the department and the Congress can take to improve future performance.
Mr. Root was a practicing attorney before he founded Vascular Solutions. With both legal and business experience, he offers practical insight on immediate, positive changes that you can make to DOJ policies and practices. Lifting the fear of prosecutorial abuse would contribute to greater entrepreneurship and innovation throughout America.
The WSJ described the Vascular Solutions litigation in an editorial in April 2016:
“It’s a good day when an honest company succeeds against attempts to criminalize an honest business. Even sweeter would be if Congress and DOJ used the occasion to institute reforms to ensure accountability for prosecutions that never should have happened.”
Mr. Root will be in Washington from April 3-6th. His intention is to offer his insight to you and the Senate Judiciary Committee in the hopes that his painful experience can translate into lasting improvements.
Thank you for your service to our country. The demands for your time are great. However, Mr. Root can offer significant value to you and your team. Please avail yourselves of his support. His strong shoulder can help.
This letter comes with prayers for your every success at this critical time for our country,
Best Regards,
Catherine Austin Fitts
The Solari Report
Former Assistant Secretary of Housing -Federal Housing Commissioner – Bush I
Cc: Senator Charles E. Grassley, Chair, Senate Judiciary Committee
Senator Amy J. Klobuchar, Senate Judiciary Committee
Senator Michael S. Lee, Senate Judiciary Committee
Congressman Thomas E. Emmer, Jr, 6thCongressional District of Minnesota
No need to respond to this letter. Please contact Mr. Root directly:
Howard Root
www.howardroot.com/cardiac-arrest-book
2nd Quarter 2023 Wrap Up: Dutch Farmers and Fishermen: Local Heroes in the Global War on Our Food and Property Rights (100 pages) 
Catherine, you have familiarized your subscribers with the concept of the harvesting of human capital and though it seems remote to most of us when you refer to the bleeding of investors and minority groups, the Howard Root story, if it is indeed a commonplace, is the individualized harvest that anyone can see clearly. Not, of course that the minions of our increasingly misnamed Justice Department gain the money, or even that the Department itself gains it, but it goes somewhere, and more importantly the neutering of an independent entrepreneur takes more opposing game pieces off the chessboard that globalists want to control.
John:
Strongly recommend you read the chapter about the Canadian insurance company in a squeeze play between DOJ and a hedge fund here:
https://www.amazon.com/Divide-American-Injustice-Age-Wealth/dp/0812983637/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Catherine
Catherine, you found a real gem of a guy. very special human
I’ve purchased the book and look forward to reading this. What a terrible experience to go through, I couldn’t imagine building a company I loved and going through what this poor man did, or yourself, as this sounds similar to your own experience.
From an economic standpoint I have a few questions:
1. What happens to the funds the DOJ does collect? We hear of these collections, but never hear what happens to the collections, what they are applied to, how they are collected…Just the whole process seems like a black box sort of thing to me.
This hurts America in so many ways its almost incalculable.
~e.
Elaine:
Good question. I am not current. Last time I look in most cases they negotiated with the appropriations committees to recycle into their budgets.
Another example of the value of being an Eagle Scout! Glad to hear of virtue rewarded.
Loved this interview! Senator Hatch and Senator Lee will receive a book from me! I may deliver it personally. I especially enjoyed Mr. Root’s clear head. He has such a sharp intellect-no wonder he is successful.
A pleasure to hear from Howard Root. We need more CEO heroes. The big bad business meme is omnipresent. I’m going to tweet about his book repeatedly. We Americans, not to mention our neighbors know so little about how our government really works. Thank you Catherine and Thank you Howard.