A French court on Tuesday convicted the ex-managers of firm PIP of fraud and sentenced the company's founder to four years after its faulty breast implants sparked a global health scare, reprots AFP.
The now-defunct firm, Poly Implant Prothese (PIP), was at the centre of worldwide concern two years ago after it was revealed to have used industrial-grade silicone in thousands of breast implants sold worldwide.
The court sentenced PIP founder Jean-Claude Mas to four years in prison, imposed a 75,000 euro ($103,000) fine and banned him permanently from working in medical services or running a company.
Mas, a 74-year-old dubbed "the sorcerer's apprentice of implants" by prosecutors, did not react as the verdict was read out in court.
Four other former PIP executives were also convicted by the court in Marseille and given lesser sentences.
The scandal first emerged in 2010 after doctors noticed abnormally high rupture rates in PIP implants.
It gathered steam worldwide in 2011, with some 300,000 women in 65 countries believed to have received the faulty implants.
During a month-long trial in Marseille in April, the defendants admitted to using the industrial-grade silicone but Mas, who spent eight months in pre-trial detention, denied the company's implants posed any health risks.
Read more of this AFP report published by Google.
Read Mediapart's coverage of the affair here.