11 Indicted For Internet Sales of Counterfeit Drugs as Canadian Generics
11 individuals in Georgia, South Dakota, North Carolina, and Belize and a Georgia-based company have been indicted on charges of selling counterfeit prescription drugs over the Internet. The Government asserts that the defendants operated a drug manufacturing facility in Belize at which they manufactured 24 drugs that they advertised through spam as generics imported from Canada, including versions of the drugs sold under the brand names Viagra, Cialis, Lipitor and Vioxx. According to the Government, millions of pills were produced, many of which were shipped to internet purchasers in the U.S. and drug wholesalers.
The indictment charges the defendants with (1) conspiring to import controlled substances into the Untied States and (2) conspiring ot violate the wire and mail fraud statute and to introduce into interstate commerce adulterated and misbranded prescription drugs.
Press reports state that many of the drugs had little or no medicinal value, that the defendants netted more than $19 million, and that photographs of the drug lab in Belize showed that the equipment used to manufacture the pills was covered with dust and dirt and pills were stored in large garbage cans.Click here for more information