Paris ( CNN ) -- Jean-Claude Mas , the founder of a French company that made defective breast implants , has been sentenced in France to four years in prison for fraud . Mas , who founded Poly Implant Prothese , or PIP , also must pay a 75,000 euro ( $ 103,000 ) fine , according to Philippe Courtois , a lawyer representing women who had the company 's implants . Four other PIP executives tried alongside Mas at the Marseille court received lesser sentences , Courtois said . They are Claude Couty , managing director and chief executive of the company ; Hannelore Font , in charge of quality ; LoÃ¯c Gossart , in charge of production ; and the head of research and development , Thierry Brinon . Mas , who denied wrongdoing in the case , was arrested in January 2012 in connection with an investigation after the 2010 cancer death of a French woman with PIP implants . He still faces a separate trial on a charge of causing involuntary injury . An investigation found that the company 's implants contained silicone that had not been certified for that use . An estimated 300,000 women in 65 countries received breast implants from PIP . The implants were banned in 2010 , and the company went bankrupt later that year . The implants were not approved for use in the United States . The French government said last year that it would pay for the removal of PIP implants for women in France . According to the national agency for the safety of drugs and health products , more than 17,000 women in France had had their PIP implants removed between 2001 and the end of September this year . Of the implants removed , a little more than a quarter were found to be faulty , it said . A report published by a European Commission panel in September found `` no convincing medical , toxicological or other data to justify removal of intact PIP implants as a precautionary approach . '' It also found there was no reliable evidence that ruptured PIP implants create a greater health risk than a ruptured silicone breast implant from another manufacturer . However , scientific research shows that `` PIP implants produced in the period 2001-2010 have a higher probability of rupture and also of earlier rupture than other breast implants , '' it said . Given this , the panel suggests it may be advisable for women with PIP implants to be offered regular assessments . CNN 's Sandrine Amiel reported from Paris and Laura Smith-Spark wrote and reported in London .
NEW : Four other PIP executives receive lesser sentences at the court in Marseille . Jean-Claude Mas is sentenced to four years in prison for fraud . Mas founded Poly Implant Prothese , or PIP , which made faulty implants . An estimated 300,000 women in 65 countries received PIP breast implants .