Report: DOJ to conduct internal investigation into failed FedEx drug case

The U.S. Department of Justice is launching a rare internal review of what went wrong in its failed pursuit of a case in which it charged the parcel giant with conspiring to deliver illegal drugs, according to a report from Reuters news service.    The U.S. Department of Justice is launching a rare internal review into its recent failed drug case against FedEx Corp., according to a report from Reuters news service.
   The department will investigate what went wrong in its pursuit of the case, in which it charged the parcel giant with conspiring to deliver illegal drugs.
   Prosecutors in 2014 obtained a grand jury indictment against FedEx on charges it had knowingly accepted shipments of illegal pharmaceuticals from online pharmacies. Rather than settle out of court, FedEx decided to take the case to trial, choosing to have the case heard directly by U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer in San Francisco instead of a traditional jury trial.
   Just four days into the trial, however, the Justice Departement abruptly dropped all charges despite alleging in its opening statements that FedEx took advantage of its “legitimate” corporate identity to engage in criminal behavior.
   Breyer commended DOJ for its decision to drop the charges, noting that the defense was “factually innocent and did not have intent.”
   “The act of dismissal is entirely consistent with government’s overarching obligations to seek justice, even at the cost of some embarrassment,” Breyer said in court.
   One key to the case against FedEx, according to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Assistant U.S. Attorney John H. Hemann, was the “dozens and dozens” of internal e-mails that would supposedly show that FedEx knowingly shipped drugs for pharmacies that were “shady, sneaky” and “on the run” for over a decade. 
   FedEx, however, maintained that these e-mails were taken out of context and, more importantly, the company had been in constant communication with the DEA about the fraudulent pharmacies, even going as far as to suspend deliveries from any pill distributor identified by investigators as engaging in illegal action.
   Now, the U.S. Attorney in San Francisco Brian Stretch has assigned the office’s deputy criminal chief to review the case, an investigation that could take as long as two months. He told Reuters the department will examine why prosecutors brought the case in the first place, what oversight supervisors provided and what role officials in Washington D.C. played.
   “This is not a finger pointing exercise,” Stretch said in an interview last week. “This is an exercise with the singular purpose to find lessons learned, and apply them to current and future cases.”