Hi-Tech CEO Sentenced to 4+ Years in Clink

NORCROSS, Ga.—It’s $50K and 50 months for Jared Wheat, CEO and founder of Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, who was sentenced by a federal judge for illegally selling prescription drugs online. Wheat and his co-defendants must also relinquish $3 million in proceeds. Under a plea deal, three other defendants were sentenced to jail terms of 16 to 27 months; the judge found the 37 months for Wheat suggested in the plea was not harsh enough for his actions. During plea negotiations, prosecutors dropped allegations of racketeering, spiking supplements with ephedrine alkaloids and conspiracies of blackmail and murder.