John Kapoor
Born
John Nath Kapoor

1942 or 1943 (age 80–81)[1]
Amritsar, India
NationalityAmerican
Alma materInstitute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai
University at Buffalo
Known forConvicted felon as a large shareholder of Akorn Pharmaceuticals
Founder and chairman, Insys Therapeutics
SpouseEditha Kapoor (deceased)
Children4

John Nath Kapoor (born 1942/1943) is an American convicted felon, multi-millionaire, pharmaceutical entrepreneur, former CEO of Insys Therapeutics, and majority shareholder in the generic drug manufacturing company Akorn.[2] In the fall of 2017, Kapoor was arrested and charged with numerous felony counts including RICO conspiracy, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and other crimes. He was found guilty on all counts, and those convictions were upheld on appeal.[2][3][4]

Early life

John Nath Kapoor[5] was born in Amritsar, Punjab, India, into a family of modest means. He later moved to Mumbai, where he graduated from the Institute of Chemical Technology (formerly UDCT) with a degree in pharmacy.[6][7] After moving to the United States, he attended the University at Buffalo on a scholarship and obtained a doctorate in medicinal chemistry in 1972.[7]

Career

Kapoor began his career in 1972 at Invenex Pharmaceutical in Grand Island, New York.

He worked his way up at LyphoMed, took the company public and oversaw its operations through a scandal involving lax production standards that resulted in several patients' deaths.[2][8]

Personal life

Kapoor moved from India to Lake Forest, Illinois. He has four children. The John and Editha Kapoor Charitable Foundation, which supports the fight against cancer, was named after his late wife Editha, who died of breast cancer.[1] The University at Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences named their building John and Editha Kapoor Hall, after a donation to the school by John, to honor him and his late wife. On June 3, 2019, the University at Buffalo passed a resolution to remove Kapoor's name from the UB Pharmacy School's building in light of Kapoor's RICO conviction.[9]

In October 2017, Kapoor was arrested in Arizona and charged with RICO conspiracy, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Law.[10] The charges stem from allegations that he participated in a scheme to bribe doctors to prescribe fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid manufactured under the brand name Subsys by his company Insys Therapeutics.[11] U.S. Attorney William Weinreb said the charges reflected authorities' commitment to combat the opioid epidemic.[11] Kapoor is also alleged to have conspired to defraud health insurance providers.[10] Shortly after the charges were announced, Kapoor resigned from the Board of Insys Therapeutics.[12]

On May 2, 2019, Kapoor was convicted of engaging in a racketeering conspiracy to increase the profits of his company's opiate painkiller, Subsys.[13] On January 23, 2020, he was sentenced to 5.5 years in prison and described as a "former billionaire";[14] Federal prosecutors had asked for 15 years.[15] His convictions and sentence were affirmed on appeal.[4] Because of COVID-19, Kapoor delayed the start of his prison sentence.[16] Kapoor was incarcerated at Duluth FPC, a minimum security federal prison camp and released in June 2023 after serving 2 years of 5-1/2 year sentence. Kapoor was portrayed by Andy Garcia in the Netflix movie Pain Hustlers released in October 2023.[17]

References

  1. 1 2 "John Kapoor". Forbes.
  2. 1 2 3 Morrell, Alex (4 October 2013). "Pharmaceuticals Developer John Kapoor Is New Billionaire". Forbes. Retrieved 8 January 2014. Kapoor's worth well over $1 billion
  3. ↑ "Stocks". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  4. 1 2 United States v. Kapoor, Nos. 20-1382, 20-1409 (1st Cir. Aug. 25, 2021), http://media.ca1.uscourts.gov/pdf.opinions/20-1368P-01A.pdf
  5. ↑ "Akorn Inc". opencorporates. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  6. ↑ Rajghatta, Chidanand (3 May 2019). "Indian-American pharma executive convicted of opioid racketeering - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  7. 1 2 "John N. Kapoor, PhD '72". Buffalo.edu. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  8. ↑ Herper, Mathew (25 October 2015). "An Opioid Spray Showered Billionaire John Kapoor In Riches. Now He's Feeling The Pain". Forbes. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  9. ↑ "John and Editha Kapoor Hall". The School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  10. 1 2 "Founder and Owner of Pharmaceutical Company Insys Arrested and Charged with Racketeering". www.justice.gov. 26 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  11. 1 2 Nate Raymond (26 October 2017). "Billionaire Insys founder charged in U.S. opioid bribe case". Yahoo! News. Reuters. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  12. ↑ Wiles, Russ (30 October 2017). "Arrested billionaire resigns from Chandler's Insys Therapeutics board". The Arizona Republic. Arizona, USA. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  13. ↑ Walker, Joseph (2 May 2019). "Insys Co-Founder and Former Employees Convicted of Racketeering Conspiracy". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  14. ↑ Gabrielle Emanuel; Vanessa Romo (23 January 2020), Pharmaceutical Executive John Kapoor Sentenced To 66 Months In Prison In Opioid Trial, National Public Radio
  15. ↑ "Drug Company Founder Gets 5 Years in Prison for Bribery Scheme to Boost Opioid Profits". Gizmodo. 24 January 2020. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  16. ↑ "COVID-19 Becomes Legal Strategy for Convicted Insys Founder".
  17. ↑ Knauth, Dietrich (18 August 2023). "Insys founder Kapoor should repay $6 mln for failed legal defense, judge rules". Reuters. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
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