The pharmaceutical distributor and its former top executives allegedly committed illegal distribution of controlled substances including the opioids oxycodone and fentanyl.
In addition, the defendants allegedly conspired to defraud the U.S. Department of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Furthermore, the pharmaceutical distributor allegedly intentionally chose not to comply with its legal obligation to report thousands of suspicious orders of controlled substances to the DEA.
Criminal charges “should send shock waves throughout the pharmaceutical industry”
Geoffrey S. Berman, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said, “This prosecution is the first of its kind: executives of a pharmaceutical distributor and the distributor itself have been charged with drug trafficking, trafficking the same drugs that are fueling the opioid epidemic that is ravaging this country. Our Office will do everything in its power to combat this epidemic, from street-level dealers to the executives who illegally distribute drugs from their boardrooms.”
