The daring burglary of an Eli Lilly ($LLY) warehouse in 2010 was a record-setter by any number of measures. Although according to documents obtained on behalf of one of the confessed burglars, the losses didn't quite add up to the oft-reported $90 million figure, the parsing of the losses in insurance documents serves as a primer for the collateral damage that accrues from a large theft.
The documents show that the value of the drugs stolen in the heist from the Enfield, CT, warehouse was $48.8 million, according to the Journal Inquirer. The documents were subpoenaed from National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh by the lawyer for Amaury Villa in preparation for his sentencing. Villa, who pleaded guilty in May to a variety of charges stemming from the thefts, was among the 23 suspects arrested for a series of cargo thefts. His brother Amed Villa also pleaded guilty in the case.
But the value of the stolen drugs, substantial as that was, was only a portion of the losses Lilly had to suck up. Another $26.2 million in drugs stored at the Enfield warehouse and two other warehouses had to be written off because they shared lot numbers with the stolen products and couldn't be put on the market because of the confusion that might have resulted, according to the Journal Inquirer. Another $3 million worth of drugs was damaged in the theft. Add to that the $694,000 in ancillaries like overtime to manufacture more product and extra freight charges, and the total added up to $78.8 million.
The details of the Eli Lilly heist were like something out of the "Ocean's Eleven" movies. The thieves dismantled the alarm, rappelled through a skylight and then used a warehouse forklift to load pallets of drugs onto a semi. Drugs taken included Lilly's schizophrenia drug Zyprexa, its antidepressant Prozac and the cancer drug Gemzar. Then they drove away.
But National Union, which was on the hook for about $42 million of the losses, suggested in a lawsuit last year that the burglars had inside info. The lawsuit against ADT Security and its former parent, Tyco Integrated Security, said the thieves knew everything from where the alarm control room was located to which delivery bay they could safely park their get-away rig in without being seen. And it was not as if the Lilly facility was left unlocked with the welcome mat out. It had 13 cameras inside as well as motion detectors and an alarm system. An attorney for the company alleged that the thieves were either given the info or were able to hack ADT computers to get it.
- read the Journal Inquirer story