A couple who withdrew $124,000 in cash from their bank accounts to dodge financial reporting requirements in connection with an investigation into a compounding center that was linked to a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak was sentenced on Wednesday.
Carla Conigliaro, 53, of Dedham, Massachusetts, and the former majority owner of New England Compounding Center was sentenced to one year of probation and ordered to pay a fine of $4,500. Her husband, Douglas Conigliaro, 55, was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to pay a fine of $55,000.
The couple had plead guilty in July to withdrawing cash from their bank accounts to evade the $10,000 reporting requirement for the filing of a currency transaction report.
The now defunct New England Compounding Center was responsible for a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak in 2012 that killed 64 people and sickened more than 700 others across the country.
The outbreak was traced back to contaminated vials of preservative-free methylprednisolone acetate that was manufactured by the Framingham, Massachusetts compounding pharmacy. A two-year investigation lead to the arrest of 14 employees, including the Carla and Douglas Conigliaro.
The Conigliaros were not charged with having an active role in managing the compounding center.
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.
U.S. & World
Cadden and Chin are scheduled to stand trial on Jan. 5, 2017.
