Court convicts founder of French maker of faulty breast implants, gives 4-year prison term | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Court convicts founder of French maker of faulty breast implants, gives 4-year prison term

Reporters focus on documents concerning the Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) breast implant trial, displayed in the courthouse in Marseille, southern France, Monday, Dec. 9, 2013. A court decides Tuesday whether Jean-Claude Mas, founder of the defunct PIP silicone breast implant company, is guilty of aggravated fraud by making tens of thousands of defective implants using industrial grade silicone, and selling them worldwide. The tribunal is expected to decide whether the German product-testing firm TUeV Rheinland was a victim of deception by Jean-Claude Mas or could be held responsible by failing to properly check the implants. More than 125,000 women received the implants until sales ended in March 2010. (AP Photo/Claude Paris)

MARSEILLE, France - A court has ruled that a Frenchman who sold tens of thousands of faulty silicone breast implants around the world is guilty of fraud.

With hundreds of women looking on, the tribunal in Marseille handed Jean-Claude Mas, the founder of Poly Implant Prothese, the maximum four-year prison sentence on the aggravated fraud charge. He was also ordered to pay a 75,000-euro ($103,000) fine.

Some 125,000 women underwent plastic surgery with PIP implants. Defence lawyer Yves Haddad said Mas planned to appeal.

In a similar case, a commercial court last month ordered the German company TUeV, which cleared PIP for certification, to pay damages to more than 1,600 women and six distributors. The implants were filled with industrial-grade silicone and were prone to leak.

News from © The Associated Press, 2013
The Associated Press

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