Costa Rican Man Stands Accused of Running Fake Online Pharmacy

Ramiro Navarro Quesada, has been extradited the United States to faces charges that along with co-conspirators in Puerto Rico and the United States, he ran fake online pharmacies that supplied fake and misbranded drugs to American patients, the Department of Justice (DOJ) reports.

According to the DOJ, Quesada was originally indicted in October 2015 on 3 counts of mail fraud, one count of conspiracy to misbranded and smuggle drugs, and one count of money laundering. Quesada used his websites to sell medication to unsuspecting U.S. patients that were unaware they were buying misbranded and counterfeit prescription drugs manufactured in India.

According to Quesada’s indictment, he is alleged to have begun shipping misbranded drugs into the United States in July 2012.  Along with his co-conspirators Ramiro Navarro Quesada, Sylvia Navarro Cruz, and Miguel Cruz, he allegedly sold misbranded drugs such as Adderall, carisoprodol, alprazolam, zolpidem, phentermine, diazepam, lorazepam, tramadol hydrochloride, and sildenafil citrate with false or misleading labeling, inadequate directions for use, and without a required prescription.

The indictment further claims that Quesada’s two main websites, alliancenetwork.nl and alliancegroup.la stated explicitly that  “we work with a few licensed pharmacies with the USA.”

If convicted, Quesada faces a maximum of 65 years in prison.

The Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations, the Postal Inspection Service, Homeland Security Investigations, the Pennsylvania State Police, and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations investigated this case.  Assistant United States Attorney Shardul Desai is prosecuting the case.