From: Keith Emmer • (212) 920-9205 • [email protected]
(On behalf of the Gilbert Firm, P.C.)
MIAMI, FLORIDA (March 21, 2016) – Opening arguments are taking place today in a federal district court in Miami, in a suit arising from what is believed to be the largest pharmaceutical theft in U.S. history. The suit alleges that Tyco Integrated Security, f/k/a ADT (NYSE: TYC), the nation's leading security provider, inadequately protected data leading to the theft of more than $60 million of drugs from an Enfield, CT warehouse used by pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly in 2010.
The case reaches across the insurance, real estate and security industries, and could ultimately impact companies that provide cyber-security or have access to any sensitive customer data, such as network support companies.
The complaint alleges that the burglars exploited confidential information held by Tyco to successfully loot the Enfield facility, avoiding detection by utilizing details of its layout --specifically, vulnerabilities of the surveillance and intrusion detection systems, as outlined by Tyco in a confidential system proposal generated in 2010.
The burglary, which ultimately resulted in over $78 million of calculable losses to Lilly, was one of several large thefts connected by the FBI to a Florida-based Cuban burglary ring operating nationwide. The complaint points to a number of other similar thefts at ADT / Tyco secured sites as additional evidence of an alleged pattern of inadequate protection of its clients' confidential information by ADT / Tyco. The burglars were able, in each case, to identify exactly where to cut entry holes, and avoid or disable all security provided by Tyco.
In carrying out the Lilly theft, "Defendants Amaury Villa and Amed Villa crossed the entire length of the roof of the distribution warehouse to arrive at a small area comprising less than 1% of the total surface area of the roof," the complaint states. "This location was identified on the 2010 ADT/TYCO Confidential System Proposal as above an area unmonitored by the existing security equipment and adjacent to the MCC room which was identified in the 2010 ADT/TYCO Confidential System Proposal by "x" and "y" coordinates as requiring additional intrusion detection devices and cameras."
From there, the complaint continues, the defendants rappelled "from the small location on the roof to the unmonitored area of the warehouse and accessed the MCC room undetected by monitoring equipment and disabled the existing security systems master controls, telecommunications systems and cell batteries to the back-up communications systems."
The plaintiff is National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as subrogee of Eli Lilly and Company. The case is styled NATIONAL UNION FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY OF PITTSBURGH, as subrogee Eli Lilly and Company, v. TYCO INTEGRATED SECURITY, LLC, et al. National Union commenced the action against Tyco on April 16, 2013.
The case is pending before U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida in Miami.
Lead plaintiff counsel is Elisa Gilbert and Brendan R. O'Brien of The Gilbert Firm, P.C.
Copies of filings, judicial orders and other information are available upon request.