Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief
In November 2019 Outcome Health founders Rishi Shah, Shradha Agarwal, Outcome CFO Brad Purdy and executive VP Ashik Desai were charged in federal court with a combined 26 counts of fraud for defrauding investors out of hundreds of million of dollars. Ashik Desai pleaded guilty to the charges and cooperated with the investigation whereas the others protested their innocence.
It took forever for the case to come to trial but finally in April 2023 a jury in Chicago found Outcome co-founder and former CEO Rishi Shah (shown to the right) guilty on 19 of 22 counts, fellow co-founder and former President Shradha Agarwal guilty on 15 of 17 counts and found Brad Purdy, the company’s former COO and CFO, guilty on 13 of 15 counts.
This week Rishi was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison, more than a year after he was found guilty of fraud. Before sentencing, U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin told Shah the fraud was “not a single mistake or out-of-character impulsive moment. A lot of this I believe was driven by greed … dreams of being a big shot”.
Government prosecutors had asked Durkin to give Shah 15 years in prison, calling him “the architect” of a USD 1 billion fraud. The U.S. Probation Office had recommended eight years, according to a memo filed by Shah’s attorneys, and his attorneys had asked for home confinement.
Shah has already retained former acting U.S. Solicitor General Neal Katyal to appeal his conviction. Shah also plans to appeal his sentence.
Back in April, the jury deliberated for two days after a 10 week trial. Prosecutors said that Outcome (formerly Context Media), which operated digital tablets in doctors’ offices and waiting rooms that display health care content and advertising, lied about the number of screens, over-billed companies for ads that were never delivered and falsified revenue figures whilst raising nearly a billion dollars in loans and equity investments. Outcome Health received a USD 110 million loan in April 2016 and a USD 375 million loan in December 2016 and in 2017 raised a further USD 487 million at a USD 5 billion valuation.
CFO Purdy was sentenced to two years in jail. Shradha Agarwal was sentenced to three years in a half-way house.
See also:-
The Truth About @OutcomeHealth
Outcome Health Swallowed Up By @PatientPoint
Outcome Health Welcomed With Open Arms by @DPAAOrg
PatientPoint in Talks to Merge With Outcome Health
Fraud Trial Date Set For @OutcomeHealth Founders
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