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Non-Tech : The Enron Scandal - Unmoderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (3036)	5/27/2004 2:05:34 PM
From: Glenn Petersen	Respond to of 3602

Rite Aid Ex-CEO Sentenced to Eight Years story.news.yahoo.com NEW YORK (Reuters) - The former chief executive of Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE:RAD - news) was sentenced on Thursday to eight years in prison for his involvement in a $1.6 billion accounting scandal that paralyzed the No. 3 U.S. drugstore chain four years ago. Martin Grass, 50, was also sentenced to three years of supervised release following his prison term, according to Thomas Marino, U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Grass, the fourth of six ex-Rite Aid executives to be sentenced in the case, also agreed to pay $500,000 in fines and forfeit $3 million to the United States in a plea deal. Grass signed a revised plea deal two weeks ago at the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania under which he agreed to serve up to 10 years in prison on charges of conspiracy to commit accounting fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice. U.S. District Judge Sylvia Rambo in April rejected an 8-year sentence as too short a punishment. Grass' "substantial assistance" to the government against three of five other former executives led to a motion being filed on his behalf for leniency in the sentencing, prosecuting attorney Kim Daniel said. "This conviction and sentencing sends a simple message: No one -- not even the chairman of the board of a Fortune 500 company -- is above the law. The conviction of Martin Grass ... is an important first step in reaffirming public confidence in corporate integrity," Marino said in a statement. Grass' attorney, William Jeffress, did not immediately return calls for comment. Among Grass' misdeeds was a failure to disclose his stake in a real estate company that used Rite Aid funds to buy land for a new corporate headquarters. Former Chief Financial Officer Frank Bergonzi was sentenced on Wednesday by Judge Rambo to 28 months in prison. He pleaded guilty last June to one count of conspiracy to commit accounting fraud by manipulating the Camp Hill, Pennsylvania-based company's earnings and financial statements. Philip Markovitz, a former Rite Aid senior vice president for real estate, was sentenced on Wednesday to one month in prison, five months of detention and a $5,000 fine. He pleaded guilty in July to one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice. Eric Sorkin, a former Rite Aid vice president of pharmacy services, was sentenced on Tuesday to five months in prison and five months of home detention. He pleaded guilty last June to one count of conspiracy. Ex-Vice Chairman Franklin Brown was convicted in October of making false statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission (news - web sites), obstructing justice, witness tampering and other crimes. He faces of maximum of 65 years imprisonment and $2.5 million in fines on the 10 counts. The former executives faced the criminal charges for inflating profits and collecting large compensation packages in the late 1990s. Rite Aid retroactively lowered profits by $1.6 billion in 2000.