Drug Firm Founder Guilty of Bribing Doctors to Push Opioid

former founder of pharmaceutical company, Insys Therapeutics, John Kapoor, 76-year-old, was accused of bribing doctors across the U.S. to prescribe a highly addictive fentanyl spray, and was convicted Thursday, May 2, in a case that exposed such marketing tactics as using a stripper-turned-sales-rep to give a physician a lap dance.

Insys Therapeutics founder John Kapoor leaves federal court in Boston, on Jan. 30, 2019. Steven Senne/AP Photo

BOSTON—A pharmaceutical company founder accused of bribing doctors across the United States to prescribe a highly addictive fentanyl spray was convicted Thursday, May 2, in a case that exposed such marketing tactics as using a stripper-turned-sales-rep to give a physician a lap dance.

John Kapoor, the 76-year-old former chairman of Insys Therapeutics, was found guilty of racketeering conspiracy after 15 days of jury deliberations. Four ex-employees of the Chandler, Arizona-based company, including the former exotic dancer, were also convicted.