Appeals Court Upholds NECC Convictions

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A federal appeals court has upheld the convictions of three former employees of a drug compounding company blamed for a deadly 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak.
In a 61-page decision the First Circuit Court of appeals sitting in Boston, Mass. upheld the guilty verdicts returned by a jury in late 2018 against Gene Svirskiy, Alla Stepanets and Christopher Leary. All three worked at the now defunct New England Compounding Center.
NECC was the source of contaminated steroids that were shipped to unsuspecting health care providers in 2012. The fungus ridden drugs ultimately took the lives of more than 100 patients.
But as the ruling written by Appeals Court Judge David J. Barron points out, the three defendants played no role in preparing the tainted steroids. They were convicted of other violations turned up in a two year federal probe of NECC.
Svirskiy, who managed one of NECC's clean rooms, was convicted of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, mail fraud and violations of the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act. He is now serving a 30 month sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns.
Leary was sentenced to eight months of home confinement while Stepanets was sentenced to one year of probation. The apppeals court also upheld the conviction of Stepanets on multiple counts of violating the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act and Leary on mail fraud and Food Drug and Cosmetic Act violations.
In the detailed ruling the three judge panel rejected arguments that the defendants were not actually acting as pharmacists in their jobs at NECC and were not involved in the sales pitches made by NECC's sales staff.
The three were among 14 indicted in late 2014 following the two-year grand jury investigation. Only one of the 14 was acquitted of the charges. Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com