United States Drug Enforcement Administration

MANHATTAN, N.Y. - On July 18, 2014 Bridget Brennan, New York City’s Special Narcotics Prosecutor announced the conviction of Stan Xuhui Li, a physician specializing in pain management and anesthesiology, on 198 charges, including Manslaughter, Reckless Endangerment, Criminal Sale of a Prescription for a Controlled Substance, Scheme to Defraud, Grand Larceny, Falsifying Business Records and Offering a False Instrument for Filing.

The jury returned its verdict following four months of trial and nearly six days of deliberations in Manhattan Supreme Court. Judge Michael Sonberg ordered Li remanded without bail pending sentencing, which is scheduled for October 20, 2014.

The doctor was convicted of recklessly causing the deaths of two patients, recklessly endangering six more, selling prescriptions for controlled substances to 20 patients, a scheme to defraud insurance companies, and submitting altered records to the New York State Department of Health’s medical oversight agency, the Office of Professional Medical (OPMC).

Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan said, “My office devoted more than three years and countless resources to this case because we believed that the public needed protection from criminally reckless conduct that purported to be medical treatment but resulted in loss of life, addiction, and harm to patients. We thank the jury for their service and diligence.”

The jury convicted Li on two counts of Manslaughter in the Second Degree, three counts of Reckless Endangerment in the First Degree and three counts of Reckless Endangerment in the Second Degree, as well as 180 counts of Criminal Sale of a Prescription for a Controlled Substance, one count of Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree, two counts of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, nine counts of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree and eight counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree.

At trial, Li faced a total of 211 charges. The jury found him not guilty of one count of Reckless Endangerment in the Second Degree, 10 counts of Criminal Sale of a Prescription for a Controlled Substance and two counts of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree.

The jury's verdict brings an end to a three and one-half year investigation, initiated in 2010 in response to a civilian complaint. Li was arrested in November 2011. The Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor continued its probe and filed a superseding indictment in December 2012. The People’s direct case at trial included testimony from 72 witnesses and hundreds of exhibits.

Bridget G. Brennan commended Assistant District Attorneys Charlotte Fishman and Peter Kougasian and Supervising Investigator Joseph Hall for their work on the case, along with members of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Prescription Drug Investigation Unit and all of the law enforcement agencies that partnered in the investigation.

The Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor thanks the following agencies for their participation: the Queens County District Attorney’s Office, the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement for the New York State Department of Health, the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the New York City Police (NYCPD), the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, the New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General the Office of National Drug Control Policy: NY/NJ HIDTA, the New York Drug Enforcement Task (comprised of agents and officers from the DEA, NYCPD and New York State Police), the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, New York Division, the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the New York City Bureau of Fraud Investigation’s Prescription Drug Fraud Unit, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Hamilton Township Police Department, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.