The majority owner of a Framingham-based pharmacy and her husband were sentenced yesterday in connection with illegally withdrawing cash following a 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak.
Carla Conigliaro of Dedham, the operator of New England Compounding Center (NECC), was sentenced to one year of probation and ordered to pay a fine of $4,500. Her husband, Douglas Conigliaro, also of Dedham, was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to pay a fine of $55,000. They each pleaded guilty in July 2016 to withdrawing cash from their bank accounts in a manner intended to defeat financial reporting requirements.
A nationwide outbreak of fungal meningitis in September 2012 was traced back to contaminated vials of preservative-free methylprednisolone acetate manufactured by NECC, a compounding pharmacy located in Framingham. Beginning on Oct. 31, 2012, the day a search warrant was executed at NECC, Carla and Douglas Conigliaro began withdrawing unusual sums of cash from their personal bank accounts. The cash transactions were structured by the Conigliaros in a manner so as to evade the $10,000 reporting requirement for the filing of a currency transaction report. The Conigliaros admitted to withdrawing $124,000 in cash in this manner.
Following a two-year investigation that concluded in December 2014, the Conigliaros and 12 other employees and associates of NECC were charged in a federal indictment. The indictment did not charge the Conigliaros with having an active role in the operations or management of NECC, but did charge them with transferring assets following the fungal meningitis outbreak.
NECC’s owner and head pharmacist Barry J. Cadden and supervisory pharmacist Glenn A. Chin were charged with 25 racketeering acts of second-degree murder in seven states. Ten other defendants, including six pharmacists, the director of operations, the national sales director, an unlicensed pharmacy technician and another owner, were charged with additional crimes including racketeering, mail fraud, conspiracy and violations of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. Cadden and Chin are scheduled to stand trial on Jan. 5, 2017.
