NECC Defendant Wants Money Hidden

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A key defendant in the upcoming criminal trial stemming from a deadly outbreak does not want jurors to hear how much money he earned from the company that caused the 2012 public health crisis.
In a motion filed in U.S. District Court in Boston, Mass. Gregory Conigliaro, who was a vice president and part owner of the New England Compounding Center, said that disclosure of his income "would improperly taint the jury's ability to be fair."
The filing comes on the eve of opening arguments in the case against Conigliaro and five others who were employed at NECC in Framingham, Mass. NECC shipped thousands of vials of fungus riddled steroids to health providers in some 20 states triggering an outbreak sickening at least 778 patients and killing 76 of them.
Congiliaro, who was NECC's vice president for government affairs and regulatory compliance, is charged with a single count of conspiring to defraud the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Other motions filed as the Monday trial approaches include a motion to allow the attorneys to use the words of prosecutors themselves to defend their clients. Those statements were made in opening and closing remarks during the trials of two co-defendants, Barry Cadden and Glenn Chin, both now serving prison terms.
In one earlier trial, prosecutors argued that Cadden, NECC's president,"ran everything. NECC was Barry Cadden's baby."
As for Chin, prosecutors told his jury that he was Barry Cadden's "right hand man."
Prosecutors responded today asking U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns to bar the use of statements made in opening or closing statements.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys George Varghese and Amanda Strachan argued that nothing from the openings or closings should be allowed and they noted that it was the six defendants who insisted on a separate trial.
"They cannot have it both ways," they said in the response, charging that the defendants were cherry picking favorable items from the prior trials.
Conigliaro in his motion to bar disclsoure of his NECC income also argued that his motion itself should be sealed from the public lest the jurors, who already have been selected, find out the income information from media accounts.
"This evidence is completely irrelevant" to the single charge against Conigliaro, " his attorney Daniel Rabinovitz wrote.
"It is undisputed," he added, "that Mr. Conigliaro had a financial incentive for NECC to be an ongoing business."
Opening arguments are scheduled for 9 a.m. in Stearns' Boston, Mass. courtroom.
Contact:wfrochejr999@gmail.com