A former Massachusetts pharmacy executive was on Monday sentenced to nine years in prison after being convicted of racketeering and fraud charges for his role in a deadly US meningitis outbreak in 2012.
Barry Cadden, the cofounder and former president of the now-defunct New England Compounding Center, was convicted in March of those crimes by a federal jury in Boston, but cleared of the harshest charges he faced, second-degree murder.
Prosecutors had asked US District Judge Richard Stearns in Boston to sentence 50-year-old Cadden to 35 years in prison, saying he directed the production of drugs in unsanitary and dangerous ways to boost the compounding pharmacy’s profits.
His greed and those shortcuts led to 778 patients across the US being harmed after receiving contaminated steroids, prosecutors said.
That includes 76 people who died, they said.
Stearns said that if he was a victim, he would have wanted the maximum sentence, as some had advocated.
He said he spent the weekend reviewing statements from the victims.
“The most common word that repeats itself is pain,” he said.
However, Stearns said he could not allow outrage to interfere with reaching a fair sentence. Some victims expressed disappointment.
“It’s a slap in the face,” said Dawn Elliott, an Indiana woman who received steroid injections and was subsequently bedridden for more than a year.
Cadden’s lawyers sought only three years in prison. In court, he tearfully apologized.
“As head of a company that made drugs that killed and sickened these people, I say with full sincerity that it breaks my heart to read about how painful their deaths were,” he said.
Cadden was one of 14 people tied to Framingham, Massachusetts-based New England Compounding Center indicted in 2014 following the outbreak.
He was one of only two people to face second-degree murder charges.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said its materials management head, Vanessa Lee (李文如), had tendered her resignation for personal reasons. The personnel adjustment takes effect tomorrow, TSMC said in a statement. The latest development came one month after Lee reportedly took leave from the middle of last month. Cliff Hou (侯永清), senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer, is to concurrently take on the role of head of the materials management division, which has been under his supervision, TSMC said. Lee, who joined TSMC in 2022, was appointed senior director of materials management and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Thursday met with US President Donald Trump at the White House, days before a planned trip to China by the head of the world’s most valuable chipmaker, people familiar with the matter said. Details of what the two men discussed were not immediately available, and the people familiar with the meeting declined to elaborate on the agenda. Spokespeople for the White House had no immediate comment. Nvidia declined to comment. Nvidia’s CEO has been vocal about the need for US companies to access the world’s largest semiconductor market and is a frequent visitor to China.
Hypermarket chain Carrefour Taiwan and upscale supermarket chain Mia C’bon on Saturday announced the suspension of their partnership with Jkopay Co (街口支付), one of Taiwan’s largest digital payment providers, amid a lawsuit involving its parent company. Carrefour and Mia C’bon said they would notify customers once Jkopay services are reinstated. The two retailers joined an array of other firms in suspending their partnerships with Jkopay. On Friday night, popular beverage chain TP Tea (茶湯會) also suspended its use of the platform, urging customers to opt for alternative payment methods. Another drinks brand, Guiji (龜記), on Friday said that it is up to individual
STABLE RESULTS: Despite June’s lower consolidated revenue, second-quarter sales still reached a record high, driven by demand for chips for AI applications Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reported consolidated sales of NT$263.71 billion (US$9.02 billion) for last month, its second-lowest monthly result this year. The world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement that its revenue last month only fared better than the NT$260.01 billion posted in February. Last month’s figure rose 26.9 percent from a year earlier, but slumped 17.7 percent from May, the company said. However, second-quarter revenue reached NT$933.8 billion, a record high for a single quarter, company data showed. The figure represented growth of 11.26 percent from the first quarter and 38.6 percent from a year earlier. Previously, TSMC said that
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