As part of the agreement, the company, the nation’s sixth-largest distributor, admitted in court papers that it intentionally violated federal narcotics laws by shipping dangerous, highly addictive opioids to pharmacies, knowing that the prescription medicines were being sold and used illicitly. The two former company officials were also charged with conspiring to distribute drugs and defrauding the government. One of the former executives pleaded guilty last week and is cooperating with prosecutors; the other was expected to appear in United States District Court in Manhattan to face the charges later on Tuesday. “This prosecution is the first of its kind,” said Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States attorney in Manhattan. “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.”Overdoses on prescription opioids have taken more than 200,000 lives in the last two decades, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Source: New York Times April 23, 2019 15:41 UTC