Cadden Forfeiture Agreement Disclosed

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Federal prosecutors have reached a forfeiture settlement agreement with the principal defendant in the criminal case stemming from a deadly 2012 fungal meningitis that will bring in nearly $1 million immediately and millions of dollars more when three properties are sold.
The proposed settlement filed today in U.S. District Court in Boston, Mass. will be subject to the approval of U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns.
In addition to Cadden, the one time drug company president, the agreement was signed by his wife Lisa and his three children.
Lisa Cadden had previously petitioned the court to allow her to retain the three Wrentham properties.
Under the agreement some of the properties and assets originally subject to seizure will be retained by the Caddens in return for cash payments to the U.S. Department of Justice. For instance the government will accept payment of $369,000 in lieu of the seizure of a home the Caddens own in North Kingston, R.I.
The original seizure order carried a value of $7,545,501.
Cadden already has appealed the forfeiture order and if his appeal is successful the order could be amended or reversed.
Cadden was convicted of racketeering, conspiracy and mail fraud but cleared of second degree murder charges. He is serving a nine-year sentence at a Western Pennsylvania federal prison in Loretto.
In the petition filed today government lawyers asked Stearns to approve an interlocutory order authorizing the sale of Cadden's Sailfish boat. The government will get half of the proceeds.
The settlement includes payment of $13,387 in lieu of the seizure of Cadden's 2011 BMW and $9,200 in lieu of jewelry placed under the original seizure order and $7,500 in lieu of seizure of an antique clock.
The largest single item under the agreement is a payment of $882,201, representing 50 percent of a
bank account held by the Caddens.
The three properties to be sold are located on Manchester Drive in Wrentham, Mass. They are assessed for a combined total of a little over $1.8 million.
The main house on the three properties with five bedrooms and nine baths is currently listed at just under $3 million.
Federal prosecutors also are seeking some $73 million in restitution from Cadden but Stearns has delayed action on that request until other defendants have their cases resolved. Six of those defendants are scheduled to go on trial Oct. 15.
A total of 14 persons were indicted in late 2014 following a two year federal probe of the outbreak which took the lives of at least 76 patients across the country.
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com

NECC Defendant In Land Deals

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

One of the remaining defendants in the criminal case stemming from a 2012 public health crisis has been involved in a series of recent real estate deals with the total price tag in the millions.
Records show that Gregory Conigliaro has sold two properties and purchased a third in the months leading up to his scheduled trial in U.S. District Court in Boston, Mass.
According to records at the Worcester County Registry of Deeds Conigliaro sold two parcels for a combined total of $4.15 million. At the same time in May of this year Conigliaro and his wife Cynthia purchased a nearby parcel for $900,000. All three properties are located on Sears Road in Southborough, Mass.
Conigliaro was the vice president for regulatory affairs and compliance and a stockholder in the New England Compounding Center, the company that shipped thousands of contaminated vials of steroids to health facilities across the country. The ensuing outbreak sickened 778 patients killing 76 of them.
Conigliaro was one of 14 indicted in 2014 following a two year federal probe of the outbreak. He faces a single charge of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
This week lawyers for Conigliaro renewed their request for a separate trial, contending that he would be prejudiced by the evidence against co-defendants who face more serious charges. U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns, who is presiding over the case, already has denied a similar request.
The Worcester County records show Conigliaro and his wife sold property at 52 Sears Road for $3.25 million to David and Ana Ferris. The same couple bought the property at 50 Sears Road from the Conigliaros for $900,000.
At the same time the Conigliaros bought the property at 45 Sears Road from a separate couple for $1 million. All three transactions were dated May 15.
The registry records show that there was a lien on some of the Conigliaro property stemming from the NECC bankruptcy. That lien was lifted on Dec. 30, 2014 after the bankruptcy was settled with Conigliaro and other owners agreeing to pay $48 million to a fund to benefit outbreak victims.
The Conigliaros still own a property on Cape Cod at 155 Salt Pond Road which they purchased in 2012 for $2.35 million. The couple sold another property in Barnstable County which they sold on April 3, 2017 for $791,250
Opening arguments in the case against Conigliaro and five other defendants is set for Oct. 15.
Conigliaro's lawyer did not respond to a request for comment on the real estate transactions
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com

Prosecutors Disclose Expert Witnesses

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Federal prosecutors have issued new details on the expert witnesses they intend to call in the upcoming trial of six former employees of the drug compounding firm that caused a deadly national outbreak.
The filing in U.S. District Court in Boston, Mass. shows the upcoming October trial will repeat much of the evidence and testimony evoked in the trials of two other defendants, Barry Cadden and Glenn Chin, who are now serving prison terms.
"The expert disclosures the government provided to the remaining defendants is virtually identical to the disclosure provided to defendants Cadden and Chin before their trials,"the report by the two prosecuting attorneys states.
The witnesses include officials of the federal Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, officials of a private testing laboratory and experts on the U.S. Pharmacopeia, the non-profit that sets standards for the drug industry and other health care providers.
The six scheduled to go on trial next month were all employees of the New England Compounding Center, the company blamed for the 2012 outbreak of fungal meningitis.
But unlike Chin and Cadden, none of the six has been charged in connection with the deaths of patient. Cadden and Chin were charged with second degree murder in 25 of the 76 deaths, but two separate juries cleared them of those charges.
They were convicted on racketeering, conspiracy and fraud charges. Cadden is serving a nine year sentence while Chin was given an eight year sentence.
The witness list includes Stacey Degarmo of the FDA, one of the first federal investigators to go to NECC's Framingham, Mass. offices, Eric Kastango, an expert on the U.S. Pharmocopeia, and Mary Brandt of the CDC. All three testified in the prior trials.
Listed as a possible witness was Janet Woodcock from the FDA. Woodcock didn't testify at the prior trials but her testimony from a congressional hearing was read into the record.
Still other include a New York state Health Department official, Sudha Charurvedi, who testified about testing done in her agency of an NECC product. Several FDA laboratory employees were listed. They testified at the prior trials on test results they conducted on NECC products.
In the filing today Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amanda Strachan and George Varghese cited the extensive record of prior testimony by the experts readily available in trial transcripts.
"No further disclosure is warranted or remotely necessary," the filing states.
The six face charges ranging from racketeering to conspiracy to defrauding the FDA.
The six facing trial are Gene Svirskiy, Christopher Leary, Joseph Evanosky, Sharon Carter, Alla Stepanets and Gregory Conigliaro,
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com

Two NECC Defendants Get Separate Trial

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Two of the remaining defendants in the criminal case stemming from a deadly 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak will get a separate trial, under a ruling issued today by U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns.
Citing the high risk of prejudicial spillover, Stearns said Kathy Chin and Michelle Thomas will be tried on the first available date following the scheduled October trial of the six other defendants.
The order granting a separate trial was one of more than 30 orders issued by Stearns today in U.S. District Court in Boston, Mass. on pre-trial motions filed by lawyers for the remaining defendants.
The eight were among 14 indicted by a federal grand jury in late 2014 following a two year probe of the fungal meningitis outbreak. Some 778 patients were sickened and at least 76 died after being injected with fungus laden steroids. All of the remaining defendants were employees of the New England Compounding Center, the company that produced the drugs and caused the outbreak.
In his ruling today Stearns wrote that he had attempted "to devise a practical means of preventing spillover of hearsay evidence," but concluded that Chin and Thomas had to be split off from the other defendants.
Chin and Thomas, according to court filings, were assigned to look through orders about to be shipped out. Stearns had previously dismissed charges against the two, but his decision was overturned on appeal.
"Even assuming the risk of prejudice could be contained, which is doubtful, the court would be in the awkward position of reminding jurors that items of evidence are not to be considered against Chin and Thomas," the ruling states.
He added that doing that, aside from being disruptive, would also "exacerbate matters by calling excessive attention to these two defendants."
The decision means there will in the end be four trials stemming from the 2014 indictment. Co-defendants Barry Cadden already were convicted in separate trials. Glenn Chin is the spouse of Kathy Chin. Opening arguments for the six defendants is scheduled for Oct. 15.
Stearns said the Chin and Thomas trial will be scheduled when the October trial is completed.
In the ruling granting a separate trial Stearns said Kathy Chin and Thomas were "in the larger picture on the outer rim of the remote in terms of potential culpability."
In a series of other rulings Stearns granted some of the defendants motions to limit prosecutors but denied most.
Among those denied was a motion to require prosecutors to present some of their evidence ahead of time in a so-called proffer hearing.
"If ever there was a case where no benefit could be derived from such a hearing, it is this one," Stearns wrote. "There is nothing to be said that hasn't already been said and known to the defendants"
He also chided defense lawyers for a motion in which they asked the judge to bar prosecutors from using certain language that was used in the Cadden and Chin trials.
Stating that at best the motion was "a shot across the bow or at worst an attempt to portray the government's lawyers to the court in as unflattering light as possible," Stearns wrote that he expected "all counsel to conduct themselves according to the rules of the court and ordinary standards of civil discourse."
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com

NECC Prosecutors Strike Back

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Charging that defense attorneys cherry picked a few sustained objections from two prior trials, federal prosecutors are asking a judge to reject a move to limit their questions and comments in the upcoming trial of eight former employees of the company blamed for a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak.
In two filings today in U.S. District Court in Boston, Mass. Assistant U.S. Attorneys George Varghese and Amanda Strachan asked U.S. District Richard G. Stearns to reject motions filed by attorneys for the defendants.
In those motions the defendants asked Stearns to rule in advance of the October trial to limit the conduct of the prosecution.
Strachan and Varghese also asked Stearns to reject the request to hold a hearing in advance of the trial in which prosecutors would be required to lay out the evidence of two conspiracy charges brought against some of the defendants.
Charging that such a proffer hearing would clash with prior rulings issued in the district, the filing charges that the co-conspirators are charged with producing drugs that were not sterile, not tested and "manufactured in dangerously filthy conditions."
The defendants in motions filed earlier this week also cited comments made by prosecutors in the trials of two co-defendants, Barry Cadden and Glenn Chin.
In the response Strachan and Varghese charged that defense attorneys "cherry picked a few examples' of sustained objections" and argued that"none of its direct examination practices were objectionable.
In other pre-trial filings, attorneys for Kathy Chin and and Michelle Thomas argued that they could not get fair trial if prosecutors are allowed to present evidence of injuries and death.
They stated that the two "had nothing to do" with the clean room where sterile drugs were prepared.
Similar arguments were made by attorneys for Gregory Conigliaro.
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com

Former Mass. Official on Witness List

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

The former director of the Massachusetts Pharmacy Board, who was fired in the midst of a deadly outbreak, may be testifying for one of the remaining defendants in the criminal case stemming from that same 2012 outbreak.
A witness list filed this week by lawyers for Gregory Conigliaro, includes James D. Coffey, who was director of the pharmacy board in 2012, but was fired after it was disclosed that he failed to act when he was informed that a Massachusetts licensed pharmacy had been found in violation by the Colorado licensing board.
That pharmacy was the New England Compounding Center, the company that state and federal regulators determined caused the deadly outbreak. Conigliaro was vice president and part owner of NECC.
Also on Conigliaro's witness list is Susan Manning, another former Massachusetts pharmacy board employee, who was placed on administrative leave at the same time. She was a board attorney.
The two failed to inform the pharmacy board when they were told by a Colorado official that NECC was selling drugs in that state without individual prescriptions as required in that state.
The Conigliaro witness list was one of more than a dozen filings this week by lawyers for Conigliaro and seven other defendants who will go on trial next month in U.S. District Court in Boston, Mass.
The eight are among 14 indicted following a two year probe of the deadly outbreak which sickened 778 patients in more than 20 states. Seventy-six of them died.
Other motions filed this week include a request that prosecutors be barred from mentioning that a recycling business was located right next door to the building where NECC prepared sterile drugs, including the injectable steroid contaminated with a deadly fungus.
In the motion the defendants' attorneys argued that federal prosecutors had tried unsuccessfully to infer that the recycling business was the source of the deadly fungus.
"Evidence of the recycling business is irrelevant and unfairly prejudicial,"the motion states.
Conigliaro's lawyer filed a separate motion asking U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns to bar prosecutors from using emails and other communications between their client and various boards of pharmacy across the country.
He argued that those communications were not relevant to the charge Conigliaro faces involving the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Conigliaro held the title of vice president for government regulation at NECC. In addition he was a part owner of NECC and owner of the adjacent recycling business.
Still other defense motions seek to bar prosecutors from the using "prejudicial language," which the lawyers charge were used by prosecutors in the trials of co-defendants Barry Cadden and Glenn Chin.
Cited were statements accusing Cadden of playing Russian Roulette with the lives of patients and testimony by a federal official comparing the 2012 outbreak with the Ebola outbreak.
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com

NECC Defendants Want "Outbreak" Ban

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

In the latest in a series of pre-emptive moves, the remaining defendants in the criminal case stemming from a deadly 2012 outbreak are asking a federal judge to ban the use of the word "outbreak" in their upcoming trial, citing the possibility of "extreme and irreversible undue prejudice."
The joint motion also asks U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns to "specifically enforce" his previous order barring prosecutors from making mention of "patient harm" from contaminated spinal steroids during the trial scheduled to begin with opening arguments on Oct. 15.
The eight-page motion asks Stearns to order the government "to instruct witnesses that such evidence has been excluded from the trial and is not be mentioned in front of the jury.
Specifically cited by the defendants is the possible testimony of Dr. John Culclasure of Nashville, who gave tearful testimony in the prior trials of two primary defendants in the case. Culclasure, whose name appears on the list of possible prosecution witnesses, injected dozens of his patients with fungus tainted methylprednisolone acetate at the Saint Thomas Outpatient Neurosurgical Center.
Also cited was the possible testimony of two officials of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, both of whom gave extensive testimony at the trials of Barry J. Cadden and Glenn Chin. Cadden, Chin and the eight remaining defendants were all affiliated with the New England Compounding Center, the company blamed for the 2012 outbreak which sickened 778 patients and killed 76 of them.
Stearns ruled previously that evidence of patient harm from the contaminated steroids could not be used in the upcoming trial.
Lawyers for the eight defendants have repeatedly stressed that none of their clients were involved in the production of the deadly steroids.
In the joint motion filed Monday, lawyers for the defendants pointed to dozens of exhibits that prosecutors have listed as possible evidence contain evidence of the deaths or the tainted steroids.
""This type of evidence is squarely prohibited by the court order," the motion concludes.
The motion is but the latest in a series by the defendants to limit the evidence and testimony prosecutors can utilize during the upcoming trial.
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com