NECC Owner Gets Probation, Fine For Financial Crimes

BOSTON (AP) — The majority owner of a Massachusetts pharmacy blamed for a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak has been sentenced to a year of probation and fined $4,500 for financial crimes.

Carla Conigliaro was sentenced Wednesday in federal court after pleading guilty in July to illegally withdrawing cash from bank accounts in an attempt to defeat financial reporting requirements.

Her husband, Douglas Conigliaro, was sentenced to two years of probation and fined $55,000.

The nationwide 2012 outbreak was traced to contaminated steroids manufactured by the New England Compounding Center in Framingham. It killed 64 people and sickened 750 in 20 states, hitting Michigan, Tennessee and Indiana the hardest. Victims suffered inflamed linings of their brains or spinal cords.

The compounding pharmacy's owner and a supervisory pharmacist have pleaded not guilty to 25 counts of murder in a racketeering indictment.