2019 Lawyers of the Year: K. Nathaniel Yeager, U.S. Attorney's Office.

Byline: Correy E. Stephenson

While the United States continues to struggle with the ongoing opioid epidemic, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston tried a new tactic in 2019: federal racketeering conspiracy charges against five executives at a pharmaceutical company.

The first-of-its-kind prosecution of corporate wrongdoing against the officers at Insys Therapeutics resulted in guilty verdicts last May.

"These cases are important because they speak to the entire industry," says Assistant U.S. Attorney K. Nathaniel Yeager, who led the trial team.

The government accused the defendants Insys founder John N. Kapoor, vice president of managed markets Michael Gurry, national sales director Richard Simon, and regional sales directors Sunrise Lee and Joseph Rowan of conspiring to bribe medical practitioners, in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, to prescribe a powerful fentanyl product to patients who should not have taken it.

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"These cases are important because they speak to the entire industry."

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An addictive under-the-tongue spray known as Subsys was approved for severe cancer-related pain. But in an effort to grab market share, the defendants paid millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks to doctors to convince them to prescribe the drug to patients without cancer, the government alleged.

With intense media coverage at every step, the 10-week trial included testimony about lap dances and a promotional video for the drug featuring rapping Insys salespeople.

Jurors deliberated for 15 days before returning the guilty verdicts.

In December, U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs vacated the convictions of four of the defendants (Lee, Simon, Rowan and Kapoor) to the extent that they were based on the Controlled Substances Act and honest services fraud predicates.

The ruling left intact the convictions of all five defendants for ordinary mail and wire fraud.

Yeager declines to comment on the ruling due to the ongoing litigation. Meanwhile, the sentencing hearings remain scheduled for January.

The prosecution and trial was a hugely complex, complicated effort, with 10 different agencies and invaluable contributions from other members of the U.S. Attorney's Office, including David Lazarus and Fred Wyshak, all leading to the ultimate verdict, Yeager notes.

"One of the biggest challenges on a case like this is facing the resources the other side can bring, resources that we don't have," Yeager...