FedEx is breathing a sigh of relief after a federal judge tossed out the majority of charges in an indictment brought by federal prosecutors alleging the company knowingly shipped illegal prescription drugs, AP reports.
Federal prosecutors accused FedEx Corp. of collaborating with two online pharmacies to ship painkillers, sedatives and other drugs to customers who they knew didn’t have valid prescriptions.
The indictment claims that FedEx employees delivered drugs to customers in abandoned homes and vacant lots from 2000 to 2010. When some couriers expressed concern for their safety in delivering these packages, FedEx allegedly responded by changing policy and holding pharmacy packages at pickup stations. The indictment also claims that FedEx continued to do business with the two online pharmacies even after several owners, operators and medical professionals at both businesses were convicted of illegally distributing drugs.
On Friday, Senior U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer dismissed more than a dozen of the 18 charges against FedEx, citing a careless mistake made by federal prosecutors who named a FedEx subsidiary instead of the parent company (officially known as FedEx Corp.) in a series of agreements that would have put the case on hold and suspend legal deadlines, SFGate explains. Since the correct company was not named in the agreements, FedEx Corp. did not sign them, allowing the five-year deadline for filing charges to expire for 14 of the 18 charges against the company. Breyer denied the federal prosecutors’ request to excuse their error.
“FedEx’s corporate structure is clearly described on numerous public websites—including sec.gov—which the government could have used to check its work in drafting the tolling agreement that underpins this novel prosecution,” said Breyer. “But the government did not check its work.”
However, Breyer’s dismissal of the charges “will have no effect” on the case, according to SFGate, which quoted Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirstin Ault in a hearing that took place early March. FedEx Corp., which made headlines in 2014 for hiring the same attorneys that represented former MLB player Barry Bonds, and FedEx Corporate Services, Inc. still face charges of conspiring to distribute controlled substances and money laundering.
The company has not commented on the recent ruling. In 2013, it released a statement after the initial indictment, declaring it “will defend against this attack on the integrity and good name of FedEx and its employees.” Patrick Fitzgerald, a senior FedEx official, said at the time that FedEx couldn’t be held personally responsible for each of the millions of packages sent out each day, stating that “we are a transportation company. We are not law enforcement.” FedEx also claimed at that time that its repeated requests to the U.S. government for a list of illegal online pharmacies—so that it could suspend shipping for them—had been declined.