Ed Kensik09.15.06
The former CEO of a defunct medical device company was sentenced to 10 years in prison for selling hospitals an unapproved sterilizer that caused blindness in 18 people, the Chicago Tribune reported.
A federal district court judge in Chicago, IL sentenced Ross Caputo after a jury found in April that he illegally marketed his sterilizer as an FDA-approved product despite the fact that the FDA never signed off on the device.
Robert Riley, who was vice president and chief compliance officer for the defunct company, Abtox, that was based in Mundelein, IL, received a sentence of six years in prison. The men must jointly pay more than $17 million to hospitals that purchased the $110,000 sterilizers.
Caputo and Riley maintained their innocence throughout the trial. After the verdict was reached, they sought a new trial based on published reports that showed the jury foreman had struggled for years with drug addiction.
U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo refused to give them a new trial and ruled that the foreman was an honest, capable and unbiased juror."
Castillo ripped Caputo as a man who might be a brilliant scientist but could not be considered a medical doctor. While I don't consider you to be totally evil, I do consider you to believe you are somehow above the law, Castillo said.
Robert Riley, who was vice president and chief compliance officer for the defunct company, Abtox, that was based in Mundelein, IL, received a sentence of six years in prison. The men must jointly pay more than $17 million to hospitals that purchased the $110,000 sterilizers.
Caputo and Riley maintained their innocence throughout the trial. After the verdict was reached, they sought a new trial based on published reports that showed the jury foreman had struggled for years with drug addiction.
U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo refused to give them a new trial and ruled that the foreman was an honest, capable and unbiased juror."
Castillo ripped Caputo as a man who might be a brilliant scientist but could not be considered a medical doctor. While I don't consider you to be totally evil, I do consider you to believe you are somehow above the law, Castillo said.