For the first time, a major drug distribution company and its former CEO are facing criminal charges linked to the U.S. opioid crisis.
The Rochester Drug Cooperative was charged with conspiring to distribute drugs and defrauding the government. Â The company’s former CEO Laurence Doud was further charged with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Government. Another former company officer is also facing the same charges.
The company has agreed to pay a $20 million fine to the government over a five-year period.
Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York say the Rochester Drug Cooperative sold more than 143-million oxycodone pills to customers in New York alone, ignoring safeguards that were supposed to flag suspicious sales to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Prosecutors say Rochester Drug Cooperative prioritized attracting business instead and making money above all else. It became the seventh-largest distributor of opioid drugs in the nation.