Attorney Sentenced to Jail for Illegally Distributing HIV Drug

Last week, the US District Court in Concord, New Hampshire, sentenced 63-year-old Robert McFadden, an attorney from Palm Springs, California, to three years of incarceration to be followed by two years of supervised release for participating in the purchase and distribution of the HIV drug Serostim (somatropin recombinant), according to a US Department of Justice press release. Serostim is an injectable drug manufactured by Serono (Rockland, MA).

The court also ordered McFadden to pay a money judgment of $96,639. He and others involved in the scheme obtained Serostim from HIV-infected patients in Palm Springs and Los Angeles, California, for below-manufacturer prices and then redistributed it to wholesalers using fake documents. McFadden used his client trust account to launder more than $2.1 million from licensed wholesalers and suppliers of prescription drugs in California and in Milford, New Hampshire.

In January, A US District Court jury found McFadden guilty of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and conspiracy to engage in unlicensed wholesale distribution of prescription drugs. Special agents of the US Food and Drug Administration were involved in case investigations.