A former chief compliance officer who pleaded guilty to aiding widescale opioid distribution at a wholesale pharmacy where he worked received no jail time after testifying against his former chief executive officer.

William Pietruszewski, the former CCO of Rochester Drug Co-operative (RDC), was spared jail time by Judge George Daniels of the Southern District of New York in a ruling Wednesday. Pietruszewski’s testimony aided the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) case against former RDC CEO Laurence Doud III, who was sentenced to two years and three months in prison earlier this month.

The Pietruszewski ruling was confirmed by his legal representatives at Porzio Bromberg & Newman in a press release.

RDC, once one of the 10 largest pharmaceutical distributors in the United States, was found to be at the epicenter of the nation’s prescription opioid epidemic for its unlawful distribution of oxycodone and fentanyl.

From 2012 through March 2017, the company “knowingly and intentionally violated the federal narcotics laws by distributing dangerous, highly addictive opioids to pharmacy customers that it knew were being sold and used illicitly,” the DOJ stated in a 2019 press release charging RDC, Doud, and Pietruszewski.

The two former executives, with help from other employees, directed the opioid distribution to pharmacies, according to the DOJ.

RDC agreed to pay $20 million as a part of a consent decree with the DOJ. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2020.

Adrianne Appel writes regulatory news, policy, and trends for Compliance Week. She previously reported about policy developments for Bloomberg Law and Bloomberg Government.

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