The founder of a multi-billion dollar US drugs company has been jailed over a bribery and fraud scandal that is said to have been instrumental in the country's opioid crisis.
John Kapoor, who is the former chairman of Insys Therapeutics, was convicted last year of bribing doctors to prescribe the company's highly addictive fentanyl spray to patients. He had personally approved the bribes and had overseen financial incentives to sales reps to make sure the highest doses were prescribed, according to prosecutors in recent court documents.
Prosecutors also say the company defrauded insurers into paying for the drug, which costs as much as $19,000 a month. The 73-year-old, who was ordered to pay a $250,000 fine along with his sentence, is now the highest-ranking pharmaceutical boss to be sentenced in a case attributed to the opioid crisis.During the 10-week trial last May, extreme tactics for the bribes were revealed, including one case in which a sales representative gave a lap dance to a doctor the company was trying to persuade.