Jared Wheat, CEO of Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, and co-defendant Sergio Oliveira, a sales associate, were sentenced to 50 months and 20 months, respectively, after pleading guilty to an internet pharmacy conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, and to introduce and deliver new and adulterated prescription drugs into interstate commerce under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. Wheat […]
Category: Internet Pharmacy Law (Page 2)
The St. Petersberg Times reports that Florida doctor Juan Ibanez was sentenced to four years yesterday for his association with an internet pharmacy organization (foxfamilymeds.com, medsforpain.com, prescriptiondrugplanet.com, sunshinefamilymeds.com and online-scripts.com) which distributed “more than 50 million hydrocodone pills” nationwide. Between 2003-2007, the online pharmacy grossed more than $85 million from its sales of Vicodin. Doctors did not perform face […]
Much of this blog has been devoted to criminal defense attorney analysis of the ambiguities of controlled substance internet pharmacy law; however, the law governing online pharmacies selling non-controlled substances is just as vague and unclear. This post will serve as an initial background discussion of non-controlled substance internet pharmacy law, much like my equivalent, initial […]
The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) issued a warning on Monday to consumers of weight loss pills purchased online. Specifically, it warned that over 25 different diet pills marketed as “herbal” products actually contain undeclared pharmaceutical ingredients, in violation of the FDA guidelines. The “tainted” weight loss products containing the alleged active pharmaceutical ingredients include: “2 […]
I previously wondered whether the government would indict individuals involved in internet pharmacy operations after the passage of the Ryan Haight Act but before its 2009 effective date. I now have my answer. David A. Vogel, Jonathan Vogel and Carrie Demers were indicted in the U.S. District Court for East Texas for their alleged involvement in […]
Criminal defense attorneys in various federal internet pharmacy trials have recently, though unsuccessfully, sought to dismiss federal indictments (via Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12b) utilizing somewhat similar arguments to the ones posited here, including the argument that the passage of the Ryan Haight Act indicates that pre-Ryan Haight Act law did not outlaw online consultations with extensive […]
The fact that the DEA can still say with a straight face that internet pharmacy online consultation services under federal law are illegal prior to the effective date of the Ryan Haight Act simply amazes me. Of course, when individuals are pleading guilty right and left, what they believe really doesn’t matter. Both prior to and […]
Alexis Avello and Peter Colon Lopez, both involved in the Pharmacom International Corp. internet pharmacy prescription case, were sentenced November 25 in an Iowa District Court. Lopez, who pled guilty to one count of illegally distributing prescription drugs and one count of money laundering, was sentenced to nearly two years in prison. Avello received three years for […]
A federal judge in Atlanta sentenced Dr. Vladimir Andries to three years probation on Monday for his role in an internet pharmacy operation. Andries, who faced up to two years in federal prison, was indicted in 2006 along with six other doctors for their role in the online pharmacy scheme. In his plea bargain, Andries admitted […]
While most of the news coverage on the Ohio steroid possession indictment two weeks ago concerned the fact that the drug prescriptions were allegedly obtained online from Dr. Ramon Scruggs (i.e. an “internet pharmacy”), the method of obtaining drugs does not appear to be legally relevant under Ohio law (after a brief, cursory inspection of […]
