Drug company CEO pleads guilty to selling tainted medicine

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A former owner and CEO of a South Florida drug manufacturing company has been sentenced to three years and one month in federal prison for lying to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and allowing contaminated medicine to go to pediatric hospitals. Records show that Raidel Figueroa was sentenced Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale federal court. He pleaded guilty in June to distributing adulterated drugs and other charges. Records show Figueroa had previously been a co-owner of PharmaTech LLC, which manufactured and distributed the laxative Diocto Liquid. Prosecutors say Figueroa knowingly sold tainted drugs and lied about making upgrades that would have prevented contamination.