Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told lawmakers in responses to questions released Friday that he would divest his interest in litigation against a major vaccine maker and would sign over the financial stake to an adult son.

He also disclosed he had reached at least one settlement agreement with a company or individual that had accused him of “misconduct or inappropriate behavior.” No other details were provided.

At his two Senate confirmation hearings this week, several Democrats assailed his legal work, which included referrals for lawsuits against a vaccine maker. In the ethics agreement he provided to senators as part of the process to become the nation’s health secretary, he stated that he would keep his financial stake in cases that he referred to Wisner Baum, a personal injury law firm based in Los Angeles.

Kennedy told senators Thursday that he had sent hundreds of cases to the firm for lawsuits against drugmaker Merck claiming injuries from the company’s Gardasil vaccine, which is given to prevent cervical cancer that can be caused by the human papillomavirus, or HPV.

After fiery grilling from senators, Kennedy said Thursday that he would relinquish his financial stake but did not elaborate.

On Friday, he provided additional details in his written answers to the senators’ questions: “An amendment to my ethics agreement is in process,” Kennedy wrote. “It provides that I will divest my interest in any such litigation via an assignment to my nondependent, adult son.”

Kennedy has more than one adult son, though one of them, Conor Kennedy, is a lawyer at Wisner Baum, the firm trying the cases. The younger Kennedy’s biography on the firm’s website states that he works on litigation involving claims that the drug Zantac caused cancer and also on cases against opioid makers that claim widespread malfeasance underlying the epidemic of opioid-related deaths.

The first of many lawsuits claiming that young people were harmed by the HPV vaccine is on trial in Los Angeles Superior Court. Robert Kennedy has used social media to promote the claims; in 2022, he posted a video to recruit additional plaintiffs. Merck said the allegations have no merit.

In that California trial, Wisner Baum lawyers are representing a young plaintiff who claims she suffered from a blood circulation disorder after receiving the HPV vaccine.

Conor Kennedy and Wisner Baum were not available for comment. Katie Miller, a spokesperson for Robert Kennedy, did not respond immediately to requests for comment, including one asking which son would be granted the stake in litigation.

The value of Robert Kennedy’s interest in the litigation is not known. In his initial ethics agreement, he stated, “I’m entitled to receive 10% of fees awarded in contingency fee cases referred to the firm.” He wrote that he is not a lawyer in any of the cases.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who fiercely criticized the arrangement during the Senate finance hearing, said Friday that she wanted to see the amended ethics agreement before a vote.

She noted that she was concerned about Kennedy “leaving the window open to profit from other anti-vax lawsuits.”

If confirmed as secretary of the Health and Human Services Department, Kennedy would have far-reaching authority over decisions involving drug approvals, safety actions, and funding and guidance for the nation’s pharmaceutical and health care companies and insurers.

Warren again on Friday demanded that he pledge to refrain from profiting from litigation against any entity regulated by the department for four years after leaving the post.

“It’s also critical that the revised ethics agreement ensures that he cannot use his role as health secretary to open the floodgates to more anti-vaccine litigation and then cash in after he leaves office,” Warren wrote in a statement.

After this week’s back-to-back confirmation hearings, it will be up to the Senate Finance Committee to decide whether to send Kennedy’s nomination to the floor for a full vote. One influential Republican and committee member, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, is clearly agonizing over how to vote. A committee vote is likely next week.

If Cassidy, who is a physician, votes against Kennedy and no Democrats vote for him, Republican leaders might have to use a procedural tactic to send the nomination forward. Other Republicans, including Sen. Mitch McConnell, a polio survivor and the former Republican leader, also seem uneasy with Kennedy. In a closely divided Senate, Kennedy can afford to lose only three votes if he is to win final confirmation.