The first of six former Rite Aid Corp. executives who pleaded guilty for their roles in the drug store chain’s accounting scandal has faced the music, and now he’s ready to pay the piper.
Eric Sorkin, the former vice president for pharmacy purchasing, pleaded guilty in June 2003 to conspiring to obstruct justice for his role in the scandal that resulted in a $1.6 billion restatement for Rite Aid in 2000. Sorkin was sentenced to five months in jail and five months under house arrest, according to the Associated Press. He also received two years’ probation and a $5,000 fine.
Three other former company officials are scheduled to be sentenced this week. They include former chief executive officer Martin Grass, who agreed to a plea deal earlier this month that could cost him 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.
A contrite Sorkin told U.S. District Judge Sylvia Rambo that he planned to “spend the rest of my life trying to earn back the respect” of his family, friends and colleagues, according to the wire service. “I’m not making excuses for what I did,” he said. “It was wrong.”
Assistant US Attorney Kim Douglas Daniel asserted in court that Sorkin misled company investigators about a pharmaceutical deal, tried to enforce a bogus severance-benefits letter from Grass, and lied about it to a federal grand jury, according to the AP.
“This was not just one mistake,” Daniel reportedly said. “It was several mistakes.”