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On March 27, the US Department of Justice announced the sentencing of 9 people involved in distinct but interrelated fake online pharmacy conspiracies. The ringleaders were sentenced to 4-5 years apiece, while other members of the broad organizations got less jail time or probation. All told, the defendants forfeited more than $94 million in profits. UPS & FedEx shipping records were used as evidence in this case.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has concluded the successful prosecution of two different fake Internet pharmacy conspiracies. As they describe it, “these convictions were the result of a lengthy investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, San Francisco Field Division’s Financial Investigative Team. The prosecution is part of the Northern District of California United States Attorney’s Office’s Health Care Fraud program and was initiated as an investigation with the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force. Substantial assistance was provided by the North Carolina Board of Pharmacy. Assistant United States Attorneys Kirstin Ault, Thomas Stevens, and Tracie Brown, with assistance from Denise Oki, Maryam Beros, Rawaty Yim, and Rayneisha Booth, prosecuted this case on behalf of the United States.”
Pitcairn Internet Pharmacy
Michael Arnold, founder of Pitcairn Internet Pharmacy was given a 5 year jail term for his role in distributing controlled substances and prescription drugs through a maze of illegal Internet pharmacy websites. From 2003-2007, he earned more than $69 million via websites such as ezdietpills dot net, pillsavings dot com, and doctorrefill dot net. Arnold used accounts in several countries including Canada, Switzerland, and the Netherlands to launder profits from his illegal drug sales. In addition to his jail term, he has been ordered to forfeit the $69 million in profits from his fake online pharmacy business, reports the DOJ.
SafeScripts/PharmacyUSA
Christopher Napoli, the founder of SafeScripts (also known as PharmacyUSA) was sentenced to 4 years in jail and required to forfeit almost $25 million in profits from his illicit online pharmacy business. Napoli ran his fake Internet pharmacies from November 2004 to December 2006. During that time, Safescripts sold more than 13 million doses of controlled substances. Napoli’s Safescripts operation was rather sophisticated, paying affiliates in several foreign countries to market his drugs, and utilizing a call center in the Dominican Republic to handle customer calls, according to the sentencing document.
Read MoreJohn Roth, Director of the FDA-OCI Speaking at the 2012 Interchange.
Read MoreUnited Parcel Service has agreed to pay a $40 million fine for their failure to stop fake online pharmacies from using their service. They have also agreed to implement safeguards in the shipping systems going forward to prevent drug counterfeiters from using UPS to ship their products.
On March 29, 2013, the US Department of Justice announced a non-prosecution agreement with United Parcel Service (UPS) in which UPS agrees to pay a fine of $40 million to the Federal government, and also implement compliance procedures to ensure they no longer ship illicit and counterfeit drugs for illegal online pharmacies, reports Fox Business.
According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), “UPS has cooperated fully with the investigation and has already taken steps to ensure that illegal Internet pharmacies can no longer use its services to ship drugs. These voluntary improvements will be strengthened by the compliance program UPS will implement as a condition of this NPA.”
Read MoreThis is a reprint of an FDA Alert Recall — Firm Press Release FDA posts press releases and other notices of recalls and market withdrawals from the firms involved as a service to consumers, the media, and other interested parties. FDA does not endorse either the product or the company. Contact Consumer: 732-493-3390 Media: Angelo J. Cifaldi, Esq.,R.Ph. Satish V.…
Read MoreView larger map In the United Kingdom, three men and one woman in southeastern Wales have been sentenced in a counterfeit drugs case involving a fake online pharmacy based in Pakistan. Andrew Luxton was sentenced to one year in jail. Samantha Steed was sentenced to 12 months in jail, suspended for 18 months. Carl Willis was sentenced to 6 months…
Read MoreWhat does the Canadian government have to say about online ‘Canadian’ pharmacies? It’s not just the FDA who believes that it’s not safe to purchase prescription drugs from Canadian web pharmacies. Health Canada agrees. Since 2004 they have issued nine advisories (listed below) warning Canadian citizens to be wary of online drug sales. Four of those warnings pertain to fraudulent…
Read MoreBilling Insurance Companies for Imported Drugs is a Crime In November 2012, Tennessee oncologist William Kincaid pled guilty to purchasing cancer drugs from unauthorized distributors who were hawking counterfeit drugs with no active ingredient. Dr. Kincaid deprived his patients of needed cancer treatments and endangered their lives, but–as with Al Capone–the Federal government’s case against him focuses on fraud. Dr. Kincaid…
Read MoreHow Can Counterfeit Drugs Be Useful to Terrorists? It’s popular to imagine that counterfeit drugs are a democratizing strike against high drug prices, offering effective treatment for the needy. But counterfeiters are solely profit oriented and counterfeit drugs are dangerous. Last year, researchers at the NIH found that a third of malaria drugs around the world are fake. A large…
Read MoreImportation proposals in Maine endanger patients What: There are two proposals in the Maine legislature today to import drugs from all over the world that would endanger Maine patients without saving them any money. They are LD 171 and LD 449 and you need to call the statehouse before they are discussed in committee on Thursday May 9th, 2013. LD 171…
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