Ex-Bristol-Myers Exec's Sentence Is, in Fact, a Whole Book
It’s an altogether different kind of book deal: A federal judge sentenced a former executive Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. found guilty of giving false information to U.S. regulators to write a book.
“I would like to see you write a book” so others “don’t find themselves in a similar situation,” U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina told Andrew Bodnar, according to Bloomberg. “Who knows, it may even be inspirational.”
Bodnar pleaded guilty in April to one count of lying to the Federal Trade Commission to cover up a secret agreement between Bristol-Myers and Canadian drugmaker Apotex Inc. related to Bristol-Myers’ Plavix and Apotex’s planned generic version of the drug. Bodnar could have been sentenced to up to six months in prison.
Urbina on another occasion sentenced a Washington, D.C, lobbyist who pleaded guilty to making illegal campaign contributions to write a monograph describing the criminal provisions of federal campaign contribution laws and distribute it to 2,000 other lobbyists at his own expense, the New York Times reports.
Urbina also sentenced Bodnar to a $5,000 fine and didn’t specify whether Bodnar can keep any proceeds from the book. Bodnar has never written a book, Bloomberg says.
“I hope he’s capable of writing a book,” said Michael Shapiro, a Carter Ledyard & Milburn attorney in New York who focuses on white-collar criminal defense. “What if he were sentenced to hit a home run at Nationals Park?”
