Integrity specialist has no case to answer over blackmail, extortion allegations, French officials find
Elisabeth Bik, famed for her research integrity work, admits that she is relieved that the investigation is over
French prosecutors have concluded that there is not enough evidence to investigate research integrity specialist Elisabeth Bik over accusations of making threats, extortion and blackmail brought by two high-profile bioscientists. The complaints followed Bik highlighting errors in the scientists’ work that claimed that hydroxychloroquine could treat Covid-19 – something that did not turn out to be true.
On 25 April, microbiologist-turned-research integrity specialist Bik, based in California, posted the letter she received from the Marseille prosecutors on X, formerly Twitter, stating that there was no case to answer.