Former Starkey President Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison; Former CFO gets 24 Months
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA — Former Starkey President, Jerry Ruzicka, was sentenced to 7 years in prison on December 19, 2018, for the embezzlement of nearly $20 million from Starkey Hearing Technologies. The sentence was much less than the 15 to 20 years prosecutors had asked for, and also includes a year of probation, fines and restitution.…
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HHTM Hearing News Round-up: Notable Stories This Week
Before you start your Christmas shopping or light those Hanukah candles, grab your favorite festive beverage, perhaps eggnog, and catch up on some assorted industry news. Starkey Campaign and Lobbying Contributions Exceed Medical Device Giants In what is described as a political battle against Bose, Medtech Dive reports on a $687,000 lobbying campaign…
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Signia and Starkey Launch Innovative New Products
On August 27, Starkey, a Minnesota-based hearing aid manufacturer, announced the launch of Livio AI. It is a receiver-in-the-canal (RIC) hearing aid that uses artificial intelligence to translate 27 foreign languages in real time. The new product, which Starkey is calling a wearable, also tracks both your physical and mental health. Livio AI is touted…
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HHTM Hearing News Round-up: This Week’s Notable Stories
With so much news happening to report on, this week we bring you a synopsis of timely news items that may be of interest: Age-related Hearing Loss Continues to be a Huge Burden An online report from The US Burden of Disease Collaborators, recently published by JAMA, indicated age-related hearing loss continues to…
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UPDATE: Walgreen’s Hearing Re-emerges with Two Twin City Locations
In what appeared to be an unsuccessful “proof of concept” project in 2015 between Walgreens and Sonova, a similar venture, this time involving Starkey, is underway inside two Walgreen’s locations in the Twin Cities. Similar to CVS, which has been opening hearing aid center locations throughout the US for more than a year, Walgreen’s appears…
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Guilty Verdict for Ruzicka, 1 Other, in Starkey Trial
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA — Starkey Hearing Technologies’ former president, Jerry Ruzicka, was found guilty on multiple counts today in the $20 million federal fraud trial. In a split decision, W. Jeff Taylor, former president of Sonion was also found guilty in 3 of 16 counts against him, while Larry Miller and Larry Hagen were found not…
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Untruthful on the Stand? Some of Austin’s Testimony Struck from Record in Starkey Trial
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA — The $20 million embezzlement trial involving former Starkey executives took yet another twist this week when U.S. District Court Judge John Tunheim ruled Tuesday that Starkey Laboratories owner Bill Austin perjured himself at least once in his testimony earlier in the trial. The testimony in question, regarding the perjury allegations against Austin,…
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Starkey Cuts Ties with NRA
In the wake of the tragic Stoneman Douglas High School shootings in Parkland, Florida on February 14th, numerous businesses that offered discounts to National Rifle Association (NRA) members have come under scrutiny. After mounting pressure from consumers and advocacy groups, much of it posted on social media, more than a dozen companies have decided to…
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Northland Hearing Centers Become Focus of Starkey Trial; Defense Counters with Allegations of Misdeeds
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA — The former Starkey Chief Financial Officer, Scott Nelson, took the stand for two days of testimony on February 16th and 19th in the $20 million federal fraud trial in Minneapolis. Jerry Ruzicka, Starkey’s former president; ex-human resources head Larry Miller; and former business associates W. Jeffrey Taylor and Larry T. Hagen all…
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Former Starkey Executives on Trial: Update
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA — The trial continues for former executives of Starkey Hearing Technologies on charges of fraud and embezzlement. As HHTM readers will recall, Starkey’s longtime former president Jerry Ruzicka, chief financial officer Scott Nelson and vice president of human resources Larry Miller, were all fired in September 2015 by Starkey’s founder and CEO, Bill…
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