"We allege these two men participated in a fraudulent scheme to illegally use Philidor as, essentially, a vehicle for personal profit and self-dealing," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara told reporters. "As alleged, these two men purported to be arms-length business counterparts… but they were in fact, we allege, partners in crime.”

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Gary Tanner, a former Valeant executive, was charged along with Andrew Davenport, former chief executive of Philidor, with working together to defraud Valeant by fostering a deal that cost its shareholders nearly $300 million.

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Jonathan Rosen, an attorney for Davenport, said that his client was committed to patient service.

"Mr. Davenport earned his success with integrity and hard work and will vigorously defend himself and his good name," Rosen said in an e-mail.

An attorney for Tanner did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to the complaint, Tanner promoted Philidor's business within Valeant and received payments from Philidor in return. He is alleged to have set up a fake email account under the name "Brian Wilson" to exchange with Davenport information on shell companies that were to be used to transfer millions of dollars for personal gain, as well as to provide advice to Davenport.

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Prosecutors allege Tanner used the money to invest $2 million in his retirement account, buy a home, pay off a credit card and student loans and fund his brokerage account. In total, $9.7 million was transferred by Davenport to a shell account controlled by Tanner, according to the complaint.

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In emails obtained by Ryan Redel, an FBI special agent, the two compared their partnership to the Western movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."

"Can picture our butch and sundance ride into the sunset," Davenport wrote to Tanner's alias email account. Tanner replied that the email "gave me a good chuckle when I just saw it. Will have to keep playing the game :)."

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In the complaint, Redel said he believes the exchange meant Tanner would "keep pretending to act solely in Valeant's interest, while in fact advancing" their personal interests.

In a statement, Valeant said the charges were targeted a former executive who stopped working at the company in September 2015. They did not pertain to the former chief executive and chief financial officer -- both of whom had appeared at congressional hearings focused on drug prices recently.

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"The counts issued today include allegations that the charged parties engaged in actions to defraud Valeant as a company," the statement said.

Valeant and its relationship with Philidor, a mail-order pharmacy that has since closed, has been under intense scrutiny. The complaint provides rare insight into how the relationship between the companies became so close -- and show that unnamed senior executives were concerned about Tanner's relationship with Philidor.

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According to the complaint, Valeant executives had asked Tanner, who was senior director of the access solutions team, whether he had a financial interest, which he allegedly denied. They also asked him to expand the company's relationship to other specialty pharmacies.

But Tanner failed to follow through on those requests, according to the complaint. He is alleged to have promoted Philidor to his bosses while also helping Davenport behind the scenes.

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When Philidor was due to reach a $25 million milestone payment, for example, Davenport forwarded an email to Tanner's alias account that said, "Let's get the wires loaded up and ready to launch!!!"

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And when that payment was delayed, Davenport followed up with an email with the subject line "$$$," apparently asking for advice on how to get final approval for the milestone payment, according to the complaint.

Bharara said that the investigation is continuing and declined to expand on how the relationship between the two companies may have helped support high drug prices.

Peter Maybarduk, director of consumer advocacy group Public Citizen’s Access to Medicines Program, said in an e-mail that the charges were a win for consumers.

"The alleged Valeant-Philidor relationship is, like so much pharma fraud, a purposeful criminal strategy to keep our medication prices high," Maybarduk said. "We applaud the Department of Justice for bringing charges against pharma executives who rip off consumers."