PROVIDENCE – Two former executives of Woonsocket-based CVS Caremark Corp. (NYSE: CVS) have been exonerated in the influence-peddling scandal known as Operation Dollar Bill.
The U.S. District Court jury deliberated for an hour and a half before acquitting John R. Kramer, 75, and Carlos Ortiz, 64, who had been facing fraud, conspiracy and bribery charges for their role in the drugstore chain’s hiring of former state Sen. John A. Celona as a consultant. Prosecutors said that, as government-affairs executives for CVS, Kramer and Ortiz had arranged to pay more than $40,000 in consulting fees to Celona; in return, they charged, Celona supported the retailer’s legislative agenda.
Celona – who testified for the prosecution – has admitted to arranging personal business dealings with a local pharmacy company and a local health insurer then using his position to affect the fate of legislation in which those companies were interested. He pleaded guilty in 2005, and was sentenced to 30 months in prison. Former House Majority Leader Gerard M. Martineau, who pleaded guilty to similar charges, was sentenced in February to 37 months in prison. (READ MORE)
Two former executives of Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence – Robert A. Urciuoli, the hospital’s former president, and Frances P. Driscoll, its former vice president, were convicted last year, but in January, those convictions were overturned. Urciuoli and Driscoll are now awaiting new trials. (READ MORE) The federal probe also has resulted in settlements with the hospital itself and with Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island (READ MORE),
Kramer was “ecstatic” at the Friday verdict, according to Bloomberg News. “This has been an unfair and unjust prosecution,” he said.
But the prosecutors “brought the charges we thought were justified, based on the evidence we had,” Robert Clark Corrente, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Rhode Island, told Bloomberg News, adding: “We thought the evidence justified a conviction; the jury didn’t.”
CVS Caremark Corp. (NYSE: CVS) operates the CVS/pharmacy stores; the CVS.com online pharmacy; Caremark Pharmacy Services; and the MinuteClinic retail-based health care subsidiary. Additional information is available at investor.cvs.com.
