BOSTON (AP) — An independent trustee must be appointed to oversee the bankruptcy of a Massachusetts pharmacy linked to a meningitis outbreak because of the firm’s “gross mismanagement,” among other reasons, a Justice Department official argued Tuesday.

U.S. Trustee William Harrington also argued in his motion that an accountant the New England Compounding Center hired to lead it through the Chapter 11 process had a hopeless conflict of interest because the NECC’s board can fire him at any time.