But the former FDA commish may not have to do jail time for failing to report a financial interest in several companies overseen by the agency. Lester faces up to a year in prison on two misdemeanor charges - false reporting and conflict of interest. Federal prosecutors aren’t looking to throw him in the slammer, but they are pressing for supervised probation.

In a memo to the judge, Howard Sklamberg, the assistant US attorney, wrote that Crawford should be supervised for “telling a series of lies.” And he criticized Crawford’s role in an FDA task force on obesity at a time when he held stock in Sysco and Pepsi.

“It does not take a lawyer to determine that the country’s obesity czar should not own stock in corporations that produce fast food, junk food and soft drinks,” he wrote, and called Crawford’s actions “knowing, arrogant and criminally indifferent,”

The sentencing will take place tomorrow, according to The Washington Times. But the judge noted that sentencing guidelines normally call for a fine of between $250 and $2,500. And Lester cooperated with the investigation.

So is Crawford getting off easy? Should he serve time? Should he pay the bigger fine? Does he really need adult supervision? Or should that be reserved for the FDA?
[tags]Conflict Of Interest, Lester Crawford[/tags]