Eighteen people involved in a massive Internet pharmacy operation have been indicted on charges of racketeering, fraud and money-laundering charges, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports (Moran, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8/3).
The case marks the first time organized-crime statues aimed at fighting drug cartels and mafia rings have been filed against someone operating an online pharmacy, Lauren Mack, a spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said.
The Costa Rica-based company, AffPower, sold more than $126 million worth of prescription drugs over the Internet to people without physician exams, the AP/Contra Costa Times reports. The company from August 2004 to June 2006 received more than one million orders for legal prescription drugs, including diet pills and birth control pills (Hoffman, AP/Contra Costa Times, 8/3).
According to the indictment, customers would complete an online questionnaire, and a network of physicians in the U.S. and abroad would give a cursory review of the form. Physicians received $3 for each form they reviewed but had no interaction with patients and conducted no physical exams before writing the prescriptions, which is illegal, according to Lorraine Concha, assistant special agent in charge of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in San Diego (San Diego Union-Tribune, 8/3).
A network of affiliated Web sites received a profit for forwarding orders to AffPower. Licensed online and brick-and-mortar pharmacies received $5 to $13 to fill each order (AP/Contra Costa Times, 8/3).
Customers using the site often paid twice as much or more for prescriptions than they would have using traditional methods, Concha said (San Diego Union-Tribune, 8/3).
The indictment, unsealed in a San Diego federal court, names three physicians licensed in Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio and Massachusetts, and pharmacies in Colorado and Florida.
The defendants were charged with multiple counts of racketeering, money laundering, mail fraud, drug distribution and conspiracy. If convicted, the charges carry up to 20 years in prison and millions of dollars in fines (AP/Contra Costa Times, 8/3).