WHAT IT MEANS FOR A GIANT BANK TO PLEAD GUILTY TO A CRIMINAL CHARGE

WHAT IT MEANS FOR A GIANT BANK TO PLEAD GUILTY TO A CRIMINAL CHARGE

Today, five major U.S. and European banks – including giant Citicorp and JPMorgan Chase -- agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges and pay more than $5 billion in penalties to settle charges their traders manipulated the $5.3-trillion-a-day foreign exchange currency market for the banks' profit. Their self-described “cartel” used an exclusive electronic chat room and coded language to manipulate national exchange rates in ways that benefited their own trading positions. It’s one of the biggest bank swindles of all times. 

But is any top executive going to jail? 
Not a chance. 
Black and Latino teenagers are locked up for selling ounces of marijuana. 
Bankers who fleece the rest of us for trillions of dollars get fat bonuses.

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan (pictured below), has been lobbying on Capitol Hill to roll back the Dodd-Frank Act and eviscerate other bank regulations. If, as the Supreme Court says, corporations are people, then when Citicorp and JPMorgan plead guilty to criminal charges their top brass (including Dimon) should feel the pinch.
What do you think?

Why Two Convicted Sweetwater Union High School District Officials Can Run for Re-Election

See updates on South Bay Indictments.

Judge Ana Espana said that 24-year Sweetwater Union High School District trustee Jim Cartmill was among the "least culpable offenders" convicted in the South Bay school official scandal.

He and Bertha Lopez have decided to run for re-election.

It's fine with me. I don't think Jim or Bertha were more harmful to students than the average school official--which is not to say that Jim and Bertha aren't responsible for their support of business-as-usual behavior that keeps schools in failure mode.

Even if the bad behavior that got them in trouble were completely eliminated from every district, I don't think it would make much difference for students.  The most serious problems in school governance were never addressed in the scandal.  In fact, I think the reason there were no trials was that the District Attorney didn't want these small time crooks spilling the beans about how San Diego County Office of Education runs schools for the benefit of those in power.

Why Two Convicted Sweetwater Officials Can Run for Re-Election
Bianca Bruno
Voice of San Diego
July 22, 2014

Former [Sweetwater Union High School District] board president Jim Cartmill filed earlier this month for a spot on the November ballot. Cartmill is running for a seat representing District 3, which includes schools on the east side of Chula Vista. Former trustee Bertha Lopez, one of 18 officials convicted in connection with the scandal, said at a hearing last week that she plans to run for re-election but has not yet filed the official paperwork, according to the Registrar of Voters...
San Diego Superior Court Judge Ana Espana initially ruled that Cartmill and Lopez could continue to serve in their elected positions until the end of their respective terms  but later reversed that based on a California code that suspends public officials from office after they’ve entered a guilty plea.
At Cartmill’s sentencing, the judge ruled he could run for re-election.
Cartmill was sentenced in June to three years’ probation, 40 hours community service and just under $5,000 in fines.


See all posts re South Bay Indictments.

Ex-city manager of Bell, California gets 12 years for corruption

Robert Rizzo

Ex-Calif. city manager gets 12 years for corruption
Michael Winter
USA TODAY
April 16, 2014

An astonishing case of small-city corruption ended Wednesday as the longtime administrator of Bell, Calif., was sentenced to 12 years in state prison for paying elected officials lavish salaries and using the public coffers as a piggy bank for himself and other employees.

"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely," Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy said in sentencing Robert Rizzo and ordering him to pay $8.8 million in restitution. "That is the theme of what happened in Bell. There were no checks and balances to control Mr. Rizzo and those that were in power in the city."

On Monday, a U.S. judge sentenced Rizzo to 33 months in federal prison for income tax evasion. His state and federal terms will run concurrently, and he must surrender to U.S. authorities May 30 to begin his incarceration.

Rizzo managed the working-class city for 18 years before the graft was uncovered in 2010. Though nearly 25% of Bell's 36,000 residents live below the poverty line, Rizzo's pay and benefits totaled $1.5 million a year. Kennedy called his salary and those of council members and other officials "absolutely ridiculous."

"Nobody wanted to upset the apple cart because they were paid so well," she said, describing him as "a godfather of sorts."

The pay packages were part of a larger scandal. A state audit found that Bell had illegally raised property taxes, business-license fees and other sources of revenue to pay the officials' extravagance. By the time it was uncovered, auditors said, the graft had cost the city more than $5.5 million and pushed to the brink of bankruptcy.

At the time of his arrest,, Rizzo was the highest paid city official in California -- and possibly the nation -- and would have been the state's top earning public pensioner had he retired.

Before learning his fate Wednesday, he spoke publicly for the first time since the scandal broke.

"I'm very, very sorry for that. I apologize for that," he said in a soft voice. "If I could go back and make changes, I would. I've done it a million times in my mind."

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times as he walked to his car after his sentencing, Rizzo said he "should have realized the salaries were way out of whack and taken steps to bring them back in line, but it just got away from me."

"There's not much I could do after a period of time," he said.

Under a deal with prosecutors, five former City Council members pleaded no contest to misappropriating city funds, and Kennedy will begin sentencing them in June. Punishments range from probation to four years in prison, and all must make restitution and never again seek public office.

One council member, a preacher, was acquitted.

Last week, Rizzo's deputy, Angela Spaccia, was sentenced to 11 years and eight months in state prison for misappropriating public funds by giving herself enormous raises. When a jury found her guilty in December, her salary was $564,000.

On the witness stand, Spaccia acknowledged that she felt she was earning too much when her salary passed $340,000, but argued that it was not criminal.

Rialto Unified superintendent and deputy placed on leave to make sure investigation of embezzlement is unbiased

Something similar to this happened at my school, Castle Park Elementary. The PTA president embezzled $20,000 but she wasn't charged. The San Diego DA seems to have a special, and odd, relationship with the south county. (So does the media in San Diego.) Stories about embezzlements in other parts of the county are common, but south country seemed to lie in a zone of silence. But while embarrassing embezzlements weren't allowed to roil the waters of Republican school board members like Cheryl Cox, the DA's Public Integrity Unit has focused on Democratic officials in South County.


Rialto Unified School District Superintendent Harold Cebrun, right, denies any criminal wrongdoing during a school board meeting at Preston Elementary School in Rialto on Aug. 14, 2013. He and Deputy Superintendent James Wallace, left, were placed on paid administrative leave... (Rachel Luna/Staff Photographer)

Rialto Unified superintendent and deputy placed on leave
By Beau Yarbrough
The Sun
09/12/13

Schools Superintendent Harold Cebrun has been placed on administrative leave in connection with the investigation into a former district accountant accused of embezzling from the district.

The Rialto Unified school board made the decision in closed session at its meeting Wednesday night.

Cebrun’s chief of staff, Assistant Superintendent of Student Services James Wallace, was also placed on administrative leave.

“The superintendent and the deputy superintendent are on administrative leave with pay,” district spokeswoman Syeda Jafri said Thursday. “The board of education will make its recommendation after the conclusion of the investigation.”

The investigation in question revolves around Judith Oakes, the former Rialto Unified accountant recorded on video stuffing school lunch money into her bra. She was arrested on Aug. 7 on suspicion of embezzlement.

Associate Superintendent of Business Services Mohammad Z. Islam was appointed acting superintendent for the district, according to Jafri.

When reached for comment Thursday evening, Cebrun said he agreed with the board’s decision.

“They wanted the investigation to be fair and clean and, especially if I was around, or Jim was around, the public might think it would be tainted in (some) way,” he said. “No one can say I interfered or offered any barriers to them getting what they needed to do.”

The Rialto Police Department, San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools Office and a private investigation firm hired by the Rialto Unified school board are all conducting audits of Rialto Unified’s Nutrition Services Department.

The board expects to receive the audit from Rancho Cucamonga-based Stewart Investigative Services Inc. in time for its Sept. 25 meeting.

“That’s what we’re waiting for, that next report, to guide us in the right direction,” board President Joe Ayala said. “Then we’ll be in a better position to make a decision.”

At the board’s Aug. 14 meeting, Cebrun hotly denied any involvement in Oakes’ alleged crimes.

“I have not violated any district policy,” he said. “I have not committed a crime, been associated with a crime or had knowledge of a crime.”

No charges had been filed against Oakes as of Thursday afternoon.

The board also voted on independent legal counsel for board members behind closed doors.

“On issues where (the school board) may need guidance and advice on legal issues ... if there are attorneys representing the district, there can be a conflict of interest at times, depending on circumstances,” board member Nancy O’Kelley said Thursday. “It’s very common for boards to have separate legal counsel.”

Cebrun’s absence from the district office isn’t new. He’s been out on bereavement leave since Aug. 21, according to Jafri.



Judith Oakes

Search warrant: Rialto Unified accountant stuffed money in her bra
By Joe Nelson
San Bernardino Sun
08/30/13

A former Rialto Unified School District accountant suspected of stealing thousands of dollars in student lunch money was caught on video surveillance on at least two occasions stuffing large amounts of cash into her bra, according to a search warrant affidavit.

Judith Oakes, 48, resigned from her job as accountant for the school district’s Nutrition Services Department the day after her Aug. 8 arrest on suspicion of grand theft, embezzlement and burglary. Police allege that Oakes had been stealing money from the district since June, possibly longer.

Oakes had worked for the school district for 16 years.

Derek Harris, the school district’s risk manager, called police on Aug. 7 after Oakes’ supervisor, Cindi Stone, told him she saw Oakes on video surveillance on at least two occasions concealing large amounts of cash in her bra, according to the affidavit, filed Wednesday in San Bernardino Superior Court.

Thousands of dollars in student lunch money passed through Oakes’ hands daily as it was collected from district schools and sent to her to inventory and deposit into the district’s bank account. Daily bank deposit slips dating back to June, obtained in the initial stages of the police investigation, noted a discrepancy of $2,000, according to the affidavit.

Oakes had a private office with access to a department-issued desktop computer, according to the search warrant affidavit, but police on Friday said it was premature to suspect Oakes of fudging the Nutrition Services Department’s accounting records.

Rialto police Capt. Randy DeAnda said his team of detectives working the case are awaiting an audit of the Nutrition Services Department from the school district before making that determination.

“We’re hoping to find out if there were any other financial discrepancies,” DeAnda said Friday. “That’s what the forensic audit will reveal — if there are any abnormalities or discrepancies in the accounting in which Judy Oakes would be responsible for.” v The District Attorney’s Office is conducting a forensic audit of its own, and the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools Office announced this week that it too would be conducting an audit of the school district’s Nutrition Services Department.

Police received authorization from Judge John Tomberlin to search Oakes’ San Bernardino home, the Nutrition Services Department and Oakes’ personal banking records at Arrowhead Credit Union, where, according to the search warrant, she has an account for herself and joint accounts with her two sons.

Oakes had a large amount of cash in her possession the day she was arrested, and a subsequent search of her home turned up more cash and other evidence related to her position with the school district, police said.

Police seized from Arrowhead Credit Union a CD containing Oakes’ financial records that could be useful in their investigation, according to the search warrant affidavit.

A police inventory of what was seized during the search of the school district’s Nutrition Services Department remained under seal with the court.

It's Not the Test That Made Them Cheat

It's ridiculous to say that teachers and administrators in Georgia and elsewhere committed crimes only because they had to give high-stakes tests to students.

The Georgia indictments are, in fact, just the tip of the iceberg of White Chalk Crime in schools.

The indicted educators tried to get rewards that they had no right to, and to take them away from those who deserved them. This happens all the time in schools. It's the reason the education system is failing. The wrong people are in charge of most districts, and too many of the wrong people are teaching kids.

If we had a system for correctly evaluating teachers, like this one, we wouldn't need to test kids so much, and we would save billion dollars a year. We could trust the teachers to do their job, and part of that job is to know exactly what each child knows and how each child learns best. Standardized testing could go back to its original purpose: to make an official determination of which kids are most advanced academically.

It's Not the Test That Made Them Cheat
By Michael J. Feuer
Edweek.org.
April 9, 2013

News came down, or up, earlier this month about the indictment of the former Atlanta schools chief Beverly Hall and 35 other current and former officials for their alleged roles in a massive cheating scandal that has rocked the city for the past three years.

The best coverage of this story is by Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Heather Vogell and her colleagues, whose fine journalism uncovered the muck.

There is nothing good to say about cheating on tests, which, in this extraordinary case, involves allegations of tampering with student answers, racketeering, theft, influencing witnesses, conspiracy, and making false statements. It’s wrong, period, and if Ms. Hall et al. are found guilty, they will hopefully use their time in jail to think about the damage they have caused to the kids, to the system, and to the public’s trust in schools and in the measures we use to gauge their quality.

Still, some of the reactions to the scandal have been surprising, if not scandalous in their own right. The most troubling response comes from people opposed to standardized testing generally and to current federal policy specifically. They somewhat gleefully use this sorry episode as the ultimate smoking gun, the perfect we-told-you-so case that clinches their claims about the evils of testing, and, by extension, the entire reform movement. It’s a big nail, they hope, in the coffin of test-based accountability.

"Shall we excuse individual or group criminality because certain social institutions create pressures for greed and misconduct?"

Among the more remarkable statements is one posted by William C. Ayers on Valerie Strauss’ Washington Post blog. For Bill Ayers, an education professor emeritus from the University of Illinois at Chicago, the Atlanta story proves that “teaching toward a simple standardized measure and relentlessly applying state-administered (but privately developed and quite profitable) tests to determine the ‘outcomes’ both incentivizes cheating and is a worthless proxy for learning.”

Mr. Ayers goes further. Not only does he attribute the alleged cheating to the testing policy, thereby essentially absolving Ms. Hall and her colleagues of their own ethical and professional lapses, but he uses the example to issue a sprawling condemnation of the U.S. Department of Education, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and even the president. As he puts it, “the road to the massive cheating scandal in Atlanta runs right through the White House.”

I have four problems with this logic (echoed in other commentaries, such as Jason Stanford’s bold assertion in the Huffington Post that “high-stakes testing makes cheating inevitable”; and FairTest’s pronouncement in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution op-ed last year that “[t]hese scandals are the predictable result of overreliance on test scores”).

First, shifting the blame for egregious mischief away from the perpetrators and onto the system strikes me as morally and politically bankrupt. Here’s an analogy to consider: Do we react to the worst instances of tax evasion by condemning the concept of taxation rather than by prosecuting the evaders? I assume that Mr. Ayers would not call for abolition of the graduated income tax as a way to finance public goods and redistribute wealth just because the system has its imperfections and because some people lie on their tax returns. Shall we excuse individual or group criminality because certain social institutions create pressures for greed and misconduct? Banking executives accused of fraud will be delighted.

Second, even if one could make an evidence-informed case that testing “inevitably” leads to illegal behavior—as if high-stakes testing overwhelms the human capacity for moral choice—there is the added problem of guilt by association. Pinning the responsibility for the Atlanta disaster on the White House is an extravagant example of misdirected blame. Maybe current federal policies lead to unwanted outcomes, such as narrowing of the curriculum and teaching to the test, but that’s a far cry from the outright fraud of the sort listed in the Atlanta indictment. Nothing in the No Child Left Behind law requires states or districts to use test scores to fire teachers and principals or to protect and reward those who achieve targets by tampering with answer sheets. In any case, there’s no evidence that federal policy causes cheating, or that “cheating is inevitable.”

Third, indicting testing, rather than cheating, undermines the possibility for reform in the design and uses of tests. The compelling logic in Campbell’s Law—“The more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decisionmaking, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures ...” —is supported by abundant empirical evidence on the effects of overreliance on tests for accountability.

But what’s often ignored in the popular frenzy against testing, especially in the wake of cheating scandals, is the benefits side of the argument: Tests can help gauge individual learning, give teachers additional information about their students’ progress, provide objective indicators of student achievement, and expose inequalities in the allocation of educational resources.

We may never be able to completely “overturn” Campbell’s Law, but what’s needed is a sensible approach to assessing the ratio of benefits to costs and to the design of mechanisms meant to keep the ratio strongly positive.

Fourth, it turns out that in Atlanta there were schools, and kids, that actually did improve during Ms. Hall’s tenure, according to data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress. As U.S. Commissioner of Education Statistics Sean P. “Jack” Buckley noted, “There were obviously rampant violations of testing integrity going on there, but there were also schools there that were legitimately improving.”

We shouldn’t allow score gains inflated from cheating to be misconstrued as evidence that any measured improvement in student learning—especially among poor and minority children—must always be the result of cheating or other mischief. This kind of smoking-gun logic saps the morale of educators, parents, and policymakers working in behalf of our most disadvantaged students and provides free ammunition to those who believe investments in public education are essentially futile. Just when we education researchers and social scientists are facing increasingly mean-spirited political challenges to our profession, Bill Ayers’ and others’ evidence-free diatribes further erode public confidence in the credibility of our work. One can only hope that the temptations of guilt by association won’t prevail, and that the research community as a whole won’t be blamed for the shoddy logic of some of its members.

Michael J. Feuer is a professor of education policy, the dean of the graduate school of education and human development at the George Washington University, and president-elect of the National Academy of Education.

Ohio Mom Jailed for Lying About Kids' School Residency

Is this judge admitting that many poor people are forbidden by law from obtaining a good education for their kids?

I have had personal experience of a school district (Chula Vista Elementary) tampering with records, but still it doesn't surprise me that school attorneys would try to put a parent in jail for doing the same thing that some school officials have done. I've come to accept the moral selectivity of school attorneys. The treatment of parents by school attorneys can be shockingly malicious, but those same attorneys work hard to protect school personnel from responsibility for violations of the law.

Ohio Mom Jailed for Lying About Kids' School Residency
Jan 26, 2011
Lisa Flam
AOL News

How far would you go to get your children into a better public school? The best intentions of one Ohio woman landed her in jail.

In a highly unusual case, Kelley Williams-Bolar, a single mother who lived in Akron public housing, was convicted of lying about her residency in order to send her two daughters to a highly ranked school. Her sentence, which inflamed emotions in the community, was 10 days in jail, according to reports, and is due to end this week.

"It's overwhelming. I'm exhausted," she told ABC News. "I did this for them, so there it is. I did this for them."

Four years ago, Williams-Bolar, 40, sent her girls, now 12 and 16, to the Copley-Fairlawn school district that was outside her Akron district of residence, reports said. Her father lives in the Copley-Fairlawn district, and she said she lived with him part-time after her home was burglarized and she wanted her children safe.

"When my home got broken into, I felt it was my duty to do something else," Williams-Bolar said, according to ABC.

But the district accused the aspiring teacher of lying about her address, falsifying records and having her father file false court papers to circumvent the rules, ABC said. The school asked her to repay $30,000 in tuition, saying her daughters were getting a quality education without paying taxes to contribute to the cost. She refused and was indicted.

A jury convicted her Jan. 15 of two counts of tampering with records, and she was sentenced three days later, the Akron Beacon Journal reported. She was ordered to begin the sentence immediately and was taken from the courtroom sobbing loudly, the newspaper said.

Before she was sentenced, she told the judge "there was no intention at all" to deceive the school, the Beacon Journal reported, and she pleaded to be spared jail time.

Her father, Edward Williams, 64, went on trial with his daughter, but the jury deadlocked on the charge of grand theft, the paper said.

In a jailhouse interview with the paper last week, Williams-Bolar said she'd do it again if she had to.

"If I had the opportunity, if I had to do it all over again, would I have done it?" she said. After pausing, she answered: "I would have done it again. But I would have been more detailed. ... I think they wanted to make an example of me."

Presiding Judge Patricia Cosgrove seemed to agree.

"I felt that some punishment or deterrent was needed for other individuals who might think to defraud the various school districts," she said, according to ABC.

The school district spent about $6,000 to bring Williams-Bolar to trial, a sum that included hiring a private investigator to follow her and her children, Newschannel5 reported.

Copley-Fairlawn Superintendent Brian Poe said the district has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars because of children illegally enrolled in its schools. The cases are usually resolved by parents proving they live in the district, taking their kids out of the schools or paying tuition of about $800 a month, the station reported.

Williams-Bolar's case was the first residency challenge to reach a criminal courtroom, but Poe said it was to send a message. "If you're paying taxes on a home here ... those dollars need to stay home with our students," Poe said, according to the station.

The sentence puts Williams-Bolar's teaching career at risk. She is close to graduating with an education degree from the University of Akron and works as a special needs teaching assistant at a high school, the Beacon Journal reported.

"I'm not going to give up on my education," said Williams-Bolar, who plans to appeal the conviction.

But the judge said as of now, she can't become a teacher.

"Because of the felony conviction, you will not be allowed to get your teaching degree under Ohio law as it stands today," the judge said. "The court's taking into consideration that is also a punishment that you will have to serve."...


'A Rosa Parks moment for education'
By Kevin Huffman
Washington Post
January 31, 2011

Last week, 40-year-old Ohio mother Kelley Williams-Bolar was released after serving nine days in jail on a felony conviction for tampering with records. Williams-Bolar's offense? Lying about her address so her two daughters, zoned to the lousy Akron city schools, could attend better schools in the neighboring Copley-Fairlawn district.

Williams-Bolar has become a cause célèbre in a case that crosses traditional ideological bounds. African American activists are outraged, asking: Would a white mother face the same punishment for trying to get her kids a better education? (Answer: No.)

Meanwhile, conservatives view the case as evidence of the need for broader school choice. What does it say when parents' options are so limited that they commit felonies to avoid terrible schools? Commentator Kyle Olson and others across the political spectrum have called this "a Rosa Parks moment for education."

For me, the case struck an additional nerve. As a young teacher nearly two decades ago, I taught bilingual first grade in Houston. Some of my students were in this country illegally; by my third year, a number of them also lived outside the school and district zone. Given their substandard neighborhood options, some parents drove 30 minutes or more each way just so their kids could be in my class. I was supportive of, and flattered by, their efforts. These were good parents, doing the best they could for their families.

In this country, if you are middle or upper class, you have school choice. You can, and probably do, choose your home based on the quality of local schools. Or you can opt out of the system by scraping together the funds for a parochial school.

But if you are poor, you're out of luck, subject to the generally anti-choice bureaucracy. Hoping to win the lottery into an open enrollment "choice" school in your district? Good luck. How about a high-performing charter school? Sure - if your state doesn't limit their numbers and funding like most states do. And vouchers? Hiss! You just touched a political third rail.
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Williams-Bolar lived in subsidized housing and was trapped in a failed system. In a Kafkaesque twist, she was taking college-level courses to become a teacher herself - a dream she now will never realize as a convicted felon. It's America's version of the hungry man stealing bread to feed his family, only to have his hand cut off as punishment...

Financial crimes can equal murder

See all Bernie Madoff posts.

Madoff Investor’s Suicide Leaves Questions
By ALEX BERENSON and MATTHEW SALTMARSH
New York Times
January 1, 2009

In the days after Bernard L. Madoff was arrested and accused of orchestrating a $50 billion Ponzi scheme, one of his investors — Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet — struggled with his role in the fraud.

Mr. de la Villehuchet, a French aristocrat and professional investor who lived in the New York suburbs, had put at least $1.4 billion of his and his clients’ money with Mr. Madoff. He had lost his entire savings. He was overwhelmed and depressed, according to people who had spoken to him.

Worse, he felt personally responsible for the money his investors had lost, his brother Bertrand said in a phone interview in Paris this week...





Ruth Madoff Reportedly Blames Bernie For Son's Suicide
PerezHilton.com
Dec. 14, 2010

...Ruth Madoff is reportedly blaming her husband, Bernie, for their son Mark's suicide.

Here's what Madoff biographer Jerry Oppenheimer had to say about it on The Today Show:

"She claims that Bernie Madoff has blood on his hands. She calls him an SOB … that he's totally ruined his family, and the death of their son was the final straw."

Oppenheimer has also said that Ruth feels that Mark "would not have died if it weren't for what [Bernie] had done."

And more from Oppenheimer:

"Her wrath is aimed at her husband." ...

Should businessmen who covered up defect in defibrillator face criminal charges?

Two doctors urge U.S. court to reject Guidant plea
Apr 21, 2010
Reuters

Two cardiologists who cared for a 21-year-old college student who died when his implantable defibrillator made by Guidant failed to deliver a life-saving shock are urging a federal judge to reject a plea agreement with the company.

Guidant LLC, which was acquired by Boston Scientific Corp in 2006, agreed to pay $296 million -- the largest criminal penalty against a medical device company -- for withholding information from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regarding catastrophic failures in some of the devices.

Judge Donovan Frank of the U.S. District Court of Minnesota is reviewing the settlement agreement and will likely accept or reject it by the end of the month.

In a letter to the court, Drs. Robert Hauser and Barry Maron, wrote: "We are extremely dismayed by the U.S. Attorney General's decision to enter into a plea agreement with Guidant LLC, rather than prosecute the company and the individuals responsible for this egregious act...

Why didn't the FDA protect the public from Oxycontin

These people were no better than heroin dealers. As is so often the case, a lawyer was instrumental in these crimes by businessmen.


The Associated Press
Published: July 20, 2007

OxyContin maker, executives fined $634.5 million for misleading public


ABINGDON, Virginia: A federal judge on Friday fined the maker of painkiller OxyContin and three executives $634.5 million for misleading the public about its risk of addiction.

U.S. District Judge James Jones said he would have preferred to have the plea agreements call for spending money on education of those at risk of drug abuse and treatment of those who are addicted to OxyContin. But Jones said he would not reject the agreement.

"Many young people mistakenly believe today that prescription drugs are safer than other drugs," Jones said.

Designed to be swallowed whole and digested over 12 hours, the pills can produce a heroin-like high if crushed and then swallowed, snorted or injected.

Purdue Pharma L.P., its top lawyer and former president and former chief medical officer pleaded guilty in May and under an agreement for claiming that OxyContin was less addictive and less subject to abuse than other pain medications...

The coal-mining region of southwest Virginia where the sentencing took place has had a number of oxycodone-related deaths — 119 from 2003 through 2005, according to the state medical examiner's office...

Survivors of the victims want the Food and Drug Administration to reclassify OxyContin for use only for severe pain. The drug currently can be prescribed for moderate pain...