Prosecutors Seek $132.8 Million From Cadden

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Federal prosecutors are asking a judge to issue a $132.8 million forfeiture order against the former head of a drug compounding firm convicted in late March on 57 felony counts including racketeering and mail fraud.
In a motion filed today in U.S. District Court in Boston, Mass. the U.S. Attorney asked U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns to issue an order enabling prosecutors to seize Cadden's multimillion dollar home in Wrentham, Mass.,  another property in Kingston, R.I., a sailboat and a BMW.
Citing the March 22 jury verdict, the 13-page filing by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amanda Strachan and George Varghese contends that the law requires forfeiture in cases of conviction on racketeering charges.
"The government is entitled to the gross proceeds of the (criminal) enterprise," the motion states.
The filing cites the trial testimony of a forensic expert who estimated that Cadden and his New England Compounding Center, generated $132.8 million in profits through illicit activities.
The forfeiture order request is the latest development in the aftermath of a 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak that sickened 778 patients across the country. Seventy-seven of them died.
Cadden, whose 51 day trial began in January, was one of 14 indicted in late 2014 following a two year federal probe of the deadly outbreak.
In the forfeiture filing, prosecutors acknowledged that while the precise current location of the funds is not known, the order would enable them to get exact details. They noted that Cadden had declined a request to provide the government with needed information.
In yet another development today, lawyers for WBUR, a Boston radio station, filed a motion to intervene in Cadden's case to get Stearns to release a copy of the jurors' list for Cadden's trial.
The motion charges that Stearns has refused to release the list despite at least two formal media requests.
"Without explanation the court has declined to release the juror list," the filing states.
Citing other cases, the radio station contends that the juror's lists must be made public after a verdict is entered.
The filing noted that Stearns has still refused to release the list even though the verdict was delivered over three months ago.
According to the filing, the only way a jurors' list can be kept secret is when a judge makes  "particularized findings reasonably justifying non-disclosure."
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com