Feds Seize $18 Million From New England Compounding Owners

Authorities seized more than $18 million from the owners of the former New England Compounding Center.

The former Framingham-based compounding pharmacy has been linked to the deadly 2012 meningitis outbreak, which killed 64 people nationwide and injured 750 individual in 20 states.

The funds were seized from 13 financial institution, reported U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Carmen Ortiz on Tuesday.

About $16.8 million was frozen in accounts connected to Carla and Douglas Conigliaro, the majority shareholders at the now-closed NECC. Another $1.5 million was seized from accounts held by Barry Cadden, of Wrentham, the company’s co-founder.

Last month, federal agents arrested all three, along with 11 others.

Cadden faces 25 counts of second-degree murder. He plead not guilty, along with supervisory pharmacist Glenn Chinn, who also faces second-degree murder charges.

In a press conference last month, the U.S. Justice Department said it “does not require the government to prove Cadden and Chin had specific intent to kill the 25 patients, but rather that (they) acted with extreme indifference to human life.”

Attorney General Eric Holder said, ”These employees knew they were producing their medication in an unsafe manner and in insanitary conditions, and authorized it to be shipped out anyway -- with fatal results,”

The Conigliaros, according to authorities, transferred millions of dollars the same month the company surrendered its pharmacy license and shortly before the company petitioned for bankruptcy. The couple also allegedly transferred millions of dollars after a bankruptcy court prohibited them from touching their assets.

Founded in 1988, NECC filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012, after hundreds of civil lawsuits were filed by victims and their families. NECC created a $100 million fund for victims of the outbreak in late 2013.

The federal indictment last month state NECC did not comply with cleaning, sterilization and other safety regulations. The U.S. Attorney’s office said this is the largest criminal case involved contaminated medicine ever prosecuted.