Federal prosecutors drop FedEx drug case

A U.S. District Court in San Francisco has dismissed all criminal charges against FedEx Corp. stemming from a Department of Justice investigation into its alleged shipment of illegal drugs, the company said in a statement.    Federal prosecutors have dropped all criminal charges against FedEx Corp. stemming from a Department of Justice investigation into its alleged shipment of illegal drugs, the company said in a statement.
   The case against FedEx, U.S. v. FedEx Corp., 14-cr-00380, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco), never had any legal basis to begin with, according to company officials.
   “FedEx is and has always been innocent,” said FedEx Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications Patrick Fitzgerald. “The case should never have been brought.”
   “The government should take a very hard look at how they made the tremendously poor decision to file these charges,” he added. “Many companies would not have had the courage or the resources to defend themselves against false charges. The power of the government was greatly misused when the case was initiated, but the government’s integrity was redeemed by the decision to dismiss the charges today.”
   The Justice Department had accused the FedEx of knowingly shipping illegal online prescriptions, including charges of conspiracy and money laundering that could have cost the parcel carrier as much as $1.6 billion in fines, according to reports from Bloomberg news service.
   FedEx’s legal team celebrated the somewhat unusual decision to throw out a case just after the trial began as a sign of acknowledgement from the government that there was no intentional wrongdoing on the part of the company.
   U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer had already voiced skepticism about the case, calling it a “novel” prosecution, and raising doubts before trial that prosecutors would be able to provide any proof that FedEx knew of the illegal drugs and intended them to be distributed illegally.
   In its opening statements last week, the prosecution alleged FedEx took advantage of its “legitimate” corporate identity to engage in criminal behavior by delivering illegal prescriptions from Internet drug stores. FedEx had agreed a few weeks prior to have the case decided directly by Judge Breyer instead of a jury trial.
   U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Assistant U.S. Attorney John H. Hemann last Monday said the government would produce on “dozens and dozens” of internal e-mails to show that FedEx knowingly shipped drugs for pharmacies that were “shady, sneaky” and “on the run” for over a decade. But after a full review of the evidence in the case, Hemann presented a motion to dismiss the charges entirely.
   “The defense was factually innocent and did not have intent,” Breyer reportedly said in court. “The act of dismissal is entirely consistent with government’s overarching obligations to seek justice, even at the cost of some embarrassment.”