U.S. Seizes $18-Million Assets From Pharmacy Linked To 2012 Meningitis Outbreak
U.S. authorities on Tuesday seized $18 million worth of assets from the owners of a defunct Massachusetts compounding pharmacy linked to the national meningitis outbreak in 2012 which killed 64 people and made around 750 ill.
According to Reuters, the money was taken from 13 financial institutions, including from accounts held by majority shareholders of New England Compounding Center (NECC), a firm based in Framingham, Massachusetts.
Assets worth around $16.8 million were seized from or frozen in accounts linked to majority shareholder Carla Conigliaro, and her husband, Douglas Conigliaro.
The two have been accused of transferring assets shortly after the NECC surrendered its pharmacy license and filed for bankruptcy in October 2012.
The couple allegedly transferred millions more despite two orders issued by a bankruptcy court banning them from transferring assets, showed an article by MassLive.com.
Funds amounting to $1.5 million were also seized from Barry Cadden-- the firm's co-founder, head pharmacist, and minority stakeholder.
Cadden and another pharmacist, Glenn Chinn, have been charged last month with 25 counts of second-degree murder as prosecutors accuse them of knowingly shipping steroids contaminated with fungal meningitis across the country.
The drugs were usually injected to patients suffering from back pain.
The national outbreak led to new and strict regulations on compounding pharmacies, which were supervised lightly compared to registered drug manufacturers, Reuters reported.
NECC escaped punishment from health authorities in the previous years leading to the outbreak.
The pharmacy began as a small business owned by members of Cadden's family and Gregory Conigliaro, his brother-in-law and a recyling entrepreneur.
Company records show that the pharmacy later expanded its operations to bulk sales to hospitals and clinics in almost 50 states.
It raked in around $32.4 million in revenue in the first 10 months of 2012, according to an indictment made public last month.
The indictment alleges that Greg Conigliaro gave instructions to the staff to create 300 fraudulent prescriptions to an eye anesthetic that did not work.