September 2, 2024: CEO pleads guilty for contaminated, fraudulent stem cell injections
Domestic News
Guilty pleas in two federal cases involving dangerous medicines. Pill press news in South Carolina.
John W. Kosolcharoen pleaded guilty to using his companies, Liveyon LLC and Genetech Inc., to fraudulently sell an unapproved injectable stem cell treatment with false claims that it would treat chronic diseases and autoimmune disorders. The treatments didn’t work, but they were also unsterile: causing patients in multiple states to be hospitalized with bacterial infections in 2018.
Folsom, California resident Paul Z. Lamberty pleaded guilty to selling etizolam, an illegal depressant he imported from China, as “research drugs” to online customers across the United States.
Officers searching a home in Spartanburg, South Carolina in late August seized cocaine, fentanyl and a pill press.
Liveyon.com's website is available to view at the Wayback Machine.
Pill molds seized from Pickett's lab in Rock Hill, South Carolina. (U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of North Carolina)
Quavion Maurice Pickett of Rock Hill, South Carolina received a 27-year prison sentence and a forfeiture of over $72,000, for trafficking fentanyl pills which he manufactured in a makeshift lab in a laundry room.
International News
A Welsh drug testing service reported a rise in fake prescription drugs. Counterfeit medicines seized in India. Fake propylene glycol found in Pakistan.
The Welsh Emerging Drugs and Identification of Novel Substances service (WEDINOS), the United Kingdom’s only drug testing service, reported an uptick in counterfeit and adulterated substances. According to the report, 48 percent of the diazepam (Valium) submitted for testing was counterfeit, and some of it contained a highly potent synthetic opiate.
Authorities in Hyderabad, India seized 32 varieties of unlicensed medicines, including antibiotics and steroids, during a clinic raid in late August.
A pharmacist’s association in Assam, India urged the government to take action against online companies distributing counterfeit medicines.
Pakistan’s Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan warned pharmaceutical companies that fake propylene glycol, a syrupy ingredient used in drug manufacturing, had been found in the domestic drug supply.
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In New York: "He was wearing a court-ordered GPS ankle monitor while awaiting sentencing in the medical fraud case and also while he was operating the pharmacies and selling the counterfeit medication, according to documents in the case file." News | Filing
On Amazon: "The ring also took part in Amazon's Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) program, which means the counterfeiters allegedly shipped quantities of their counterfeit items to Amazon to be held and distributed out of Amazon warehouses in the U.S." Blog | Complaint
In court: "Payer Matrix and its partner 'RxFree4me' coordinating the illegal importation of purported AbbVie medicines and other pharmaceutical manufacturers’ medicines from outside the U.S." Filing | AFP 101