Vivera Prevails in Litigation Against Former Los Angeles Commissioner Pedram Salimpour

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.-Vivera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is pleased to announce the litigation involving Pedram Salimpour has been dismissed, leaving Salimpour with nothing by way of settlement.

In the extortive 2020 lawsuit filed by Salimpour and his now-disbarred attorney, Thomas Girardi, Salimpour alleged he was an employee of Vivera, owed over $7.5 million in salary, and entitled to 5% ownership in the Company. The lawsuit was filed just weeks before the news of Girardi's behavior came to light in a federal fraud indictment. Salimpour, who has never been an employee of Vivera, filed it intending to disrupt Vivera's business and was aided by corrupt attorney Girardi.

The lawsuit alleged that Salimpour acted as CEO of Vivera between 2017 and 2018, among other blatantly false statements designed to defame Vivera under the protection of so-called "litigation privilege." After being notified by the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL), the police union representing the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), Vivera discovered Salimpour failed to disclose any such interest in Vivera in the legally mandated Form 700 disclosures required by all those serving in public office or adjacent positions.

"I am disgusted that Pedram tried to defraud Vivera shareholders and employees to gain something he never earned. What came to light during this experience is that we had other advisors, some actively doing business with Pedram, working against the best interests of Vivera as well. Several former Vivera advisors simultaneously worked with both Pedram and Vivera, even amid the false nature of his statements," stated Paul Edalat, Chairman, Founder, and CEO of Vivera. He further stated, "I will always defend Vivera, its shareholders, and its employees from outside attacks, including fraudulent lawsuits designed to hurt our hardworking team. Our company is on a mission to make a real impact on patient lives, and we will not be distracted. It's a shame that lawyers like Girardi can publish lies and get away with it."

Edalat added, "I want to thank not only our attorneys, specifically Mrs. Candice Bryner and her team, who so vigorously defended us, but the detectives that contacted us with the information that Pedram had failed to disclose Vivera on his mandatory filings really tipped the scales of justice the right way. We were later contacted by multiple local and federal agencies about Pedram, which was truly shocking."

Girardi, Salimpour's former attorney and a long-time financial supporter of Villaraigosa, still faces federal fraud crime charges. Vivera is still pursuing its case against Girardi personally and is additionally looking into any bad acts committed by former advisors of the Company.

Until 2022, Salimpour served as a commissioner for the multi-billion-dollar Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension and was required to disclose all business interests. It later came to light via an exposé in the Los Angeles Daily News that Salimpour had acted to obtain a City of Los Angeles COVID-19 contract for his own company, PPS Health Bluestone Safe, requiring city employees to pay for testing, and outsourcing the testing to an out-of-state third-party laboratory.

Vivera would like to thank the detectives, legal team, and investigators of the LAPPL for their invaluable assistance in bringing Salimpour's bad and fraudulent actions to light.

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Contact:

Ashley LeVine

media@viverapharma.com

About Vivera

Vivera is an innovative, science-driven biopharma and MedTech company located in Southern California. The Company has global exclusivity to license the patented and patent-pending TABMELT sublingual drug delivery system for pharmaceutical use and holds its own issued patents on ZICOH, an intelligent, dose-controlled electronic prescription dispensing device, MDZone, a portable telemedicine station and Conversall, its Speech Fluency Evaluation and Feedback Monitoring Device. With multiple divisions, including its technologies, biosciences, medical devices, and advanced diagnostics divisions, Vivera is vertically integrated with patented technology, manufacturing capabilities, and distribution for its products.