Prison Time For MA Business Owner Tied To Fatal Meningitis Outbreak

BOSTON, MA — The co-owner of the New England Compounding Company, which produced steroid shots contaminated with fungal meningitis, was sentenced to a year of prison time on Thursday.

Gregory Conigliaro was sentenced in Boston District Court for conspiring to defraud the U.S. Food and Drug Administration before the outbreak killed more than 100 people and sickened nearly 800 more, according to Reuters.

Conigliaro is the brother-in-law of Barry Cadden, and wasn't charged over the medication itself. Cadden and Glenn Chin, the company's lead pharmacist, were sentenced to over 10 years each.

This is just the latest sentencing and legal action against members of the company.

Two others, including the owner of the company, were recently made to stand trial in Michigan over the deaths of residents of that state.

Cadden, 54, owned the New England Compounding Center (NECC), which produced steroid shots contaminated with fungal meningitis. About 800 people across the nation were sickened in the outbreak. Chin worked as the supervising pharmacist.

According to Attorney General Dana Nessel, the nationwide outbreak resulted in 64 deaths, 11 of which occurred at the Michigan Pain Specialists Clinic (MPS) in Livingston County. Chin and Cadden face 11 counts of second-degree murder in Livingston County, one for each person dead.

In March 2017, Cadden was convicted by a federal jury of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, mail fraud and introduction of misbranded drugs into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud and mislead, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office-District of Massachusetts.

At the time, he was sentenced to 108 months in prison and three years of supervised release, and forfeiture and restitution in an amount to be determined later.

However, the federal government appealed the sentence, arguing it was too light. He was resentenced in 2021 to 14 years in prison and ordered to pay $82 million in restitution to victims.

Chin also had his sentence extended from eight to 10-and-a-half years in 2021, according to the Associated Press.