A former executive for an electronic medical records company has been sentenced to probation for attempting to obstruct a federal investigation into the relationship between his then-employer and Purdue Pharma, a major opioid manufacturer.
In U.S. District Court in Burlington on Monday, Judge William K. Sessions III sentenced Steven Mack, 49, of Bridgeville, Pennsylvania, to a one-year term of probation and ordered Mack to pay a $20,000 fine and perform community service, according to court records.
Mack had earlier pleaded guilty to attempting to obstruct a federal grand jury’s investigation into an illegal kickback that Purdue Pharma L.P. paid to Mack’s former employer, Practice Fusion, an electronic medical records company, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Vermont said in a press release.
The release indicated that Mack contributed to his former employer’s “successful efforts to persuade Purdue Pharma L.P. to pay Practice Fusion” roughly $1 million “in exchange for Practice Fusion altering its physician-facing user interface to generate more opioid prescriptions.”
In 2020, according to the release, Purdue Pharma L.P. entered a guilty plea relating to this arrangement in U.S. District of New Jersey, and Practice Fusion accepted responsibility for its role as part of a deferred prosecution agreement filed in U.S. District Court in Vermont.
Purdue Pharma agreed to plead guilty to three felony charges as part of a more than $8 billion settlement with federal prosecutors for its role in this case as well as for past deceptive marketing practices.
As part of that deal, the release stated, Practice Fusion agreed to pay a criminal fine of more than $25 million.
As a condition of probation, Sessions ordered Mack to perform 40 hours of community service for people suffering from drug addiction, according to the release.
Mack served as the director of national accounts for Practice Fusion in 2015 and 2016. During that time, he was the point of contact between Practice Fusion and Purdue Pharma on the subject of the investigation.
Mack admitted in his plea agreement that he deleted files relevant to the investigation from his company-issued laptop, “with the intent to obstruct the investigation.”
“As part of his plea agreement Mack agreed to cooperate with law enforcement and to provide
truthful testimony,” according to the press release. “Because of Mack’s cooperation, the United States recommended that Mack receive a non-incarcerative sentence.”
Lisa Shelkrot, a Vermont attorney representing Mack, could not be reached Thursday for comment.
