‘Monumental Travesty’Doud was convicted of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and conspiring to defraud the US government by failing to report suspicious orders to the Drug Enforcement Administration. He derived $500,000 in bonuses from RDC’s sales of opioids in the five years before he was set to retire, according to the government. The jury delivered its unanimous verdict on the second day of deliberations. At the time of Doud’s conviction, his lawyer, Robert Gottlieb, called the verdict “a monumental travesty of justice.” In court papers Doud’s team argued that compliance failures at drug distributors have never given rise to criminal charges, but have been handled through civil enforcement by regulators. Read More: US Sues AmerisourceBergen Claiming Suspicious Opioid Orders “There is nothing typical about the sentencing in this particular matter and the aspects of the charged conduct for which the jury voted to convict is currently under substantial debate,” Doud’s lawyers said in a court filing.Doud’s team also said that his advanced age and health problems supported his request to stay out of prison.

Jurors in New York found Doud guilty in February 2022 of orchestrating a scheme at the company to sell large amounts of addictive oxycodone and fentanyl to businesses despite “red flags” that included unusual sales volumes, a high proportion of cash purchases, buyers traveling from out of state to buy from suspected drugstores, and prescriptions from doctors on opioid watch lists.Read More: CVS, Walmart, Walgreens Reach $13 Billion Opioid Settlement Daniels chose a sentence on the lenient end of guidelines that, according to prosecutors, called for Doud to get 30 years to life in prison. The government instead asked Daniels to give him 15 years. But the judge ruled prosecutors had failed to show the amount of opioids from Doud’s company that were actually diverted to illegal use. He agreed with Doud’s team that the guidelines were actually just 27 to 33 months and gave him the lower end of that range.Doud’s lawyer asked for no prison time, arguing that any substantial prison time would amount to a life sentence for the retired executive.In addition to the time behind bars, Doud must pay a fine of $100,000 and serve three years’ probation after he’s released. Daniels ruled Doud can remain free on bail while he appeals his conviction.

The former head of a major generic-drug distributor was sentenced in New York to 2 1/4 years in prison for conspiring to sell opioids to crooked pharmacies to boost profits and his own pay.“This was a crime that was motivated solely by profit,” US District Judge George Daniels said at Laurence F. Doud III’s sentencing hearing in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday.Doud, 79, spent 25 years as chief executive officer of Rochester Drug Co-operative. He was found guilty last year in what prosecutors called a “first-of-its-kind” prosecution for selling addictive opioids to pharmacies that were suspected of dispensing them to addicts and street dealers. He faced the possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison.