A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has upheld the conviction of the former chief executive of Duane Reade Inc. The circuit found no merit to arguments that Anthony Cuti of Saddle River, N.J., was unfairly tried. He was sentenced to three years in prison.
A jury convicted Cuti in June 2010 of securities fraud after a two-month trial. The appeals court said trial evidence showed that Cuti and William Tennant, a former chief financial officer of the drugstore chain, from 2000 to 2004 exaggerated the company's earnings in statements to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. At sentencing, Southern District Judge Deborah Batts (See Profile) had called Cuti a "gifted, arrogant, driven and entitled individual who betrayed his position as CEO."
