PROVIDING ILLEGAL HIV MEDICATIONS TO A PHARMACY FOR RESALE: (1) DID NOT CONSTITUTE GRAND LARCENY BECAUSE THE AGENT OF THE PHARMACY TO WHOM THE DRUGS WERE PROVIDED KNEW THE DRUGS WERE ILLEGAL AND THAT KNOWLEDGE IS IMPUTED TO THE CORPORATION; AND (2) DID NOT CONSTITUTE CRIMINAL DIVERSION OF PRESCRIPTION DRUGS BECAUSE THE DRUGS WERE PROVIDED TO A CORPORATION, NOT TO A PERSON WHO HAD NO MEDICAL NEED FOR THEM. AN UNSEALED COMPILATION OF WIRETAP RECORDINGS CONSTRUCTED FROM SEALED ORIGINALS WAS ADMISSIBLE (SECOND DEPT).
The Second Department, in a full-fledged opinion by Justice Sgroi, reversing defendant’s grand larceny and criminal diversion of prescription medications convictions, determined that: (1) the knowledge of the agent of the pharmacy to whom the illegal HIV drugs were provided must be imputed to the corporation, therefore the corporation was deemed to know it was receiving and selling illegal drugs; (2) the statute prohibiting criminal diversion of prescription drugs is aimed at street sales of prescription drugs to those who have no medical need for them, therefore the statute does not apply to supplying illegal drugs to a pharmacy for resale; (3) the moneylaundering convictions and related sentences should be affirmed; and (4) a compilation of wiretap recordings, although not sealed, was made from properly sealed recordings and was properly authenticated, therefore the compilation was admissible:
… [T]here is no statutory requirement that a properly authenticated composite recording be compared against the sealed original recording. Three simultaneous original recordings of the intercepted communications were created in this case. The composite recording was compared against an original version of the recordings, and [a witness] testified that the composite recording was a true and accurate reflection of the content of the original. ,,, [A] sealed version of the original recording existed to deter alteration of, and permit challenge to, the composite, thus satisfying the statute. * * *
[Re; Grand Larceny:] The People’s theory in this case was that the defendant … wrongfully took money from [the pharmacy] by falsely representing that the medications they were selling were lawful to sell, transfer, and dispense. The defendant argues … that the People failed to prove that such a false representation of past or existing fact was made to [the pharmacy] because [the agent] , a high managerial employee of [the pharmacy], knew that the medications were not lawful to sell, transfer, and dispense, and thus, [the pharmacy], by imputation, also knew this fact. We agree. * * *
[Re: Criminal Diversion of Prescription Medications Penal Law § 178.25:] The defendant does not challenge the People’s premises that (1) the medications had left the legitimate stream of commerce rendered them “adulterated,” and (2) one cannot have a “medical need” for adulterated medications, as the term “medical need” is used in the statute. Thus, we do not address the validity of these premises. However, the defendant challenges the applicability of this statute to his alleged conduct on the basis that, by its terms, the statute cannot apply to a transfer of prescription medications to a corporation, as opposed to a person capable of having medical needs. Again, we agree. People v Gross, 2019 NY Slip Op 00461, Second Dept 1-23-19