NECC Trustee Files Report on Payments

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

The trustee overseeing the payment of awards to victims of the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak has filed a brief report stating that $253,045.37 was paid from a trust during the month of May.
The report comes as victims of the outbreak are anxiously awaiting word of when they might receive long promised checks from a $200 million trust fund created under the bankruptcy of the New England Compounding Center.
Lynne F. Riley, who was appointed to oversee the trust, also reported that a quarterly administrative fee of $10,400 had been paid.
Although the report states that all disbursements must be fully accounted for, the report provides no details on who got the $253,045.27. It was filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Boston, Mass. late last week.
Riley did not respond to an email request for details on the disbursements.
The report does say that the trust is expected to be closed by December of 2017.
At a recent hearing in U.S. District Court in Boston, Mass. an attorney for victims, Thomas Sobol, told U.S. District Judge Rya Zobel that the first checks to victims were expected to be mailed out in August.
The outbreak, caused by fungus tainted drugs from NECC, became public in the fall of 2012. It sickened 778 patients and killed 77 of them, with the latest death coming in March.
Riley's report indicates that all the money generated from the NECC bankruptcy has yet to be transferred to the trust fund.
Among anticipated events the report lists ,"transfer of remaining funds to tort trust."
And though the form states that it is a monthly report, no prior reports have been filed in the case.
Victims have received notices from Riley's office telling them how much of an award they can expect based on the severity of the illnesses they suffered.
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