10 arrested in probe of $150M fen-phen verdict
From staff and wire reports
FAYETTE ? Ten people have been arrested in Fayette on charges related to the $150 million verdict in 1999 in Jefferson County against the manufacturer of the diet drug fen-phen, FBI special agent Bob Garrity says.
"These arrests are the result of an ongoing investigation, and more arrests are anticipated," he said today in a statement.
Garrity said the arrests came after an 18-month investigation that began in November 2002 into large jury awards. The FBI started the investigation to learn how individuals became part of these lawsuits and, perhaps, how juries were picked from an area where many people are kin or acquaintances.
Much of the attention focused on Jefferson County ? a poor black county of less than 10,000 residents ? where a jury in 1999 awarded $150 million to five Mississippians who claimed the diet drug fen-phen gave them heart and lung problems. The case was eventually settled with more than 800 other fen-phen cases for a reported $400 million. The settlement details were sealed by the court.
Initial court appearances are slated for 3:30 p.m. today.
Garrity said the 10 were charged with conspiring to commit an offense against the United States ? to defraud American Home Products, the maker of fen-phen.
Garrity said that the charges were related to activities involving the Jefferson County case, in which the plaintiffs alleged they suffered damages from having taken fen-phen.
Other information about the arrests was not immediately available.
Those arrested included: Robert A. Buie, 41; Cora B. Durrell, 61; Ethel G. Fountain, 43; John A. Frye, 60; Regina R. Green, 51; Eva. M. Johnson, 55; Sabrena L. Johnson, 32; Evelyn Malone, 47; Lillie M. Walker, 63; and Yvonne N. Wright, 61.
American Home Products, which has since changed its name to Wyeth, made Pondimin, the fenfluramine half of fen-phen, and Redux, a chemical cousin.
About 6 million people took the drugs before they were pulled from the market in 1997 amid evidence they caused heart-valve damage in some patients. Phentermine, the other drug in the combination, was not implicated in the problems.
