By WMBD

PEORIA – Calling his actions greedy and shameful, a federal judge sentenced former biotech wunderkind Aaron Rossi to five years in federal prison Tuesday.

Chief U.S. District Judge Sara Darrow said the actions of Rossi, 40, went beyond just taking money. It hurt the trust of those around him. It was stealing, plain and simple, she said.

In addition, Darrow imposed a $1 million fine and ordered him to pay $2.12 million in restitution to the doctors of the Bloomington practice, the IRS and the state of Illinois.

Rossi, who was clad in the orange jumpsuit of a Peoria County Jail inmate, spoke in a choked voice to the judge, saying the past 10 months he’s spent in the county jail has been the hardest in his life. He said his family needed him and asked to be released on time served.

But Darrow said no, that doing so would not take into account all that he had done over the years.

She, similar to federal prosecutors, noted that Rossi lied over many years and took money, not to put food on his table or feed his children. Rather, it supported his lavish lifestyle, which, the judge noted, wasn’t needed.

Darrow, like prosecutors, also noted Rossi was paid a handsome wage and trusted by the doctors. He abused that trust and more. He prescribed drugs more than two dozen times when he was not authorized and he held himself out to be a doctor when he wasn’t.

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