By EFE
A Miami-based man was arrested and charged with being part of a national network that distributed "adulterated and mislabeled HIV medications" (the virus that causes AIDS) to patients across the country, the Department of Justice reported Friday. from the United States.
Lázaro Hernández, 51, acquired "large quantities of HIV drugs illegally and then manufactured false labels and other documentation" to make these "high-priced" drugs appear legitimate, this federal executive department said in a statement.
To carry out the criminal plan, Hernandez and his cronies allegedly established licensed wholesale drug distribution companies in Florida, New Jersey, Connecticut, and New York.
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This U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) fraud ring used these companies to sell “heavily discounted adulterated drugs” to cronies at wholesale pharmaceutical distributors in Mississippi, Maryland, and New York, who “then resold to pharmacies throughout the country,” according to the Prosecutor’s Office.
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These pharmacies "billed drugs to health insurers, including Medicare, and dispensed adulterated and mislabeled drugs to patients," who were unsuspecting.
Between 2019 and 2021, according to the indictment, the wholesale distributors of these pharmaceutical products paid Hernández and his accomplices more than 230 million dollars for the “adulterated and illegally acquired medications.”
Hernández, who is charged with “conspiracy to deliver adulterated and mislabeled drugs into interstate commerce, false documentation, and conspiracy to commit money laundering,” allegedly laundered
hundreds of millions of dollars through his Miami-based corporations.
If convicted of all charges in a Miami court, Hernandez faces a maximum sentence of more than 100 years in prison.
