Docket Number: 3:18-CV-0127 (N.D. Web(a) Voluntary Dismissal. North Carolina Dietary Supplement Distributor Sentenced in Case Involving Synthetic Steroids. The Court rescheduled all sentencing hearings in this matter to July and August 2020. SARMs are synthetic chemicals designed to mimic the effects of testosterone and other anabolic steroids. The defendants violated the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act by causing food that is held for sale after shipment of one or more of its components in interstate commerce to become adulterated and misbranded. As the court found, Spectrum received about 1,600 reports of broken handles between 2008 and 2012, when it finally reported the problem to the CPSC. Burnett owned and operated Lifestyle Auto Broker LLC, a Georgia corporation that bought and sold used cars. The complaint alleges that Cantrell, a compounding pharmacy, distributed adulterated drugs in interstate commerce and caused drugs to become adulterated while held for sale after shipment of a component in interstate commerce. Tenn.). Cal.). The multi-faceted settlement includes a Statement of Facts in which Moodys acknowledged key aspects of its conduct, and a compliance agreement to prevent future violations of law. Eubank, who operated an automobile electronics repair shop in Midlothian, Virginia, acknowledged that between 2010 and 2016, he used various electronic tools to access motor vehicle odometers to lower the odometer readings of hundreds of vehicles. People who eat food contaminated with the Listeria monocytogenes bacterium can contract the disease listeriosis, which can be seriouseven fatalfor vulnerable groups such as newborns and those with impaired immune systems. Posing as agents of a fake Fraud Protection Agency, which they claimed was a component of the Federal Trade Commission, the defendants told consumers to send a fee purportedly required by U.S. law in order to receive their prizes. In pleading guilty, Gali admitted that from 2006 through 2011, he and his brother, Chaim Gali, devised a scheme to defraud consumers by misrepresenting the mileages of used vehicles. Dec. 1, 2020 . On March 22, 2017, Cassandra Althea Palmer was sentenced to serve 24 months in prison and three years supervised release in connection with her participation in a Jamaican-based lottery scheme. In June 2018, Canadian citizens Maria Thanos and Philip Lett pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of New York to charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud for their roles in the operation of the same psychic mail fraud scheme. On October 27, 2015, the district court sentenced Louis Daniel Smith to 51 months imprisonment and four years of supervised release. According to the indictment, the defendants mailings led victims, many of whom were elderly and vulnerable, to believe that they could claim large cash prizes in exchange for fees. A hearing for entry of a plea and sentencing is scheduled for May 21, 2018. Tex.). Smith sold Miracle Mineral Supplement or MMS, which he touted as a cure for cancer, AIDS, malaria, hepatitis, lyme disease, asthma, the common cold, and various other diseases. Anna Watts for The New York Times. d/b/a/ APS Pharmaco, et al. On May 13, 2020, Blue Bell Creameries pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman to charges that the Texas-based ice cream manufacturer shipped listeria-contaminated products in 2015. Sentencing hearings for Geissler, Doyle, and Patel are set for July 27, July 29, and August 10, 2020, respectively. You must also submit either the filing fee or an IFP application. In pleading guilty to money laundering last December, Crawford admitted that from 2017 to 2019, he recruited at least 30 money mules to facilitate the receipt of millions of dollars taken from Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs benefit programs using personally identifying information stolen from victims. They were told to pay thousands of dollars to Smith and others in order to collect their winnings. Docket Number: 15-16844 (9th Cir./N.D. McLaughlin was a former customer service specialist at the Motor Vehicle Department of the Georgia Department of Revenue. The letters falsely claimed recipients had won money or valuable prizes, such as luxury cars. The consent decree requires Parrish to stop processing and distributing any food and prohibits her from resuming such activity unless she takes steps to ensure the safety of her food and receives FDA authorization to resume production and distribution. Docket No. United States v. Vivint Smart Home, Inc., Case No. The complaint also alleged that the company failed to manufacture its medicated feeds in conformity with current good manufacturing practices. Find out when PACER is free, tips to limit fees, or options to access records if you cannot afford PACER fees. On June 6, 2018, the United States filed a civil action seeking to enjoin Innovative BioDefense, Inc., of Lake Forest, California and its CEO, Colette Cozean, from distributing Zylast antiseptic hand sanitizer products that are unapproved new drugs under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The court sentenced Gutierrez to 51 months imprisonment, and Podesta and Polo to 46 months imprisonment. Defendants named in the USP Labs matter pleaded guilty in 2019 to felony charges in connection with a scheme to fraudulently sell workout supplements. The complaint further alleged that two FDA inspections revealed poor sanitation practices, including failures to sanitize hands, utensils, and food surfaces; insect residue throughout the building; and a pet dog in the facility. The decision was the culmination of eight years of litigation and a five-week trial arising out of an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission into Dishs violations of the FTCs Telemarketing Sales Rule. Medical Doctor Pleads Guilty in Clinical Trial Fraud Scheme. Air was pushed into the clean room through the HEPA filters. In a complaint filed in January, the government alleged that the defendants knowingly conveyed hundreds of millions of fraudulent robocalls from foreign entities to American consumers. In addition to the prison term, the court also ordered Crawford to pay $103,700 in restitution. Robinson owned an auto body shop located in Chesapeake, Virginia. On December 23, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York permanently enjoined Edgewood, New York entities ABH Natures Products, Inc., ABH Pharma, Inc., and StockNutra.com, Inc., along with the businesses owner, Mohammed Jahirul Islam, of Flushing, New York, from distributing adulterated and misbranded dietary supplements in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. motion to dismiss | Wex | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute In addition to entering the preliminary injunction, the court set a show cause hearing for May 11 regarding the defendants alleged violations of the previously issued temporary restraining order. Docket Number: 18-CR-10461 (D. According to the charges, all of these patients had been given TPN that was compounded and distributed by Meds IV. The complaint alleged that, over a period of several years, the defendants dispensed highly addictive and highly abused prescription opioids while ignoring red flags that is, obvious indications of drug diversion and drug-seeking behavior. In particular, the Statement of Facts addresses whether Moodys credit ratings were compromised by what Moodys itself acknowledged were the conflicts of interest inherent in the so-called issuer pay model, under which Moodys and other credit rating agencies are selected by the same entity that puts together and markets the rated securities and therefore stands to benefit from higher credit ratings. In filings unsealed on February 9, 2021, Indian drug manufacturer Fresenius Kabi Oncology Limited (FKOL) agreed to plead guilty to concealing and destroying records prior to a 2013 FDA plant inspection in Kalyani, India. Summons and Complaint -- When the United States Attorney decides a federal civil law has been violated, a civil litigator, known as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, files a Summons and Complaint in U.S. District Court and has a copy of the documents served on the alleged offender, who is called the defendant. The callers claimed that victims owed thousands of dollars in fines, and threatened victims with supposed court proceedings, negative marks on credit reports, imprisonment, and deportation. Once entered by the court, the consent decree will require Acino to cease all manufacture and distribution of the unapproved and misbranded suppositories, and to destroy any such suppositories already in existence. On Nov. 21, 2017, the district court entered consent decrees against defendants BDK Mailing GmbH, Mailing Force Pte, Ltd., Only Three Pte. Court: Third Circuit New Jersey US District Court for the District of New Jersey. The callers told victims they had failed to pay for or receive a delivery of products, and claimed that victims faced court proceedings and owed thousands of dollars in fines. On February 6, 2019, the district court entered a consent decree of permanent injunction against Raniers Rx Laboratory Inc., d/b/a Raniers Compounding Laboratory, and its owner, Francis H. Ranier. Altogether, 22 individuals were convicted of fraud in connection with Vendstar. Mich.). Md.). The callers falsely claimed that victims owed thousands of dollars after failing to pay for or receive a delivery of products. Sitesh Patel, the vice president of S.K. Docket Number: 3:17-CR-546 (N.D. Ohio), Docket Number: 1:15-CR-0024-WLS-TQL (M.D. According to the indictment, the Peruvian callers represented themselves as attorneys or government representatives and falsely told victims that they had failed to pay for or receive a delivery of products. On December 4, 2018, the Consumer Protection Branch and the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Massachusetts announced an agreement with ev3, Inc., regarding a misdemeanor criminal plea, as well as a criminal fine and forfeiture totaling $17.9 million, to resolve the companys liability for distributing Onyx Liquid Embolic System medical devices that were adulterated under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Medtronic, which acquired ev3 subsequent to the course of criminal conduct, also agreed to pay $13 million in a separate matter as part of a global settlement to resolve False Claims Act liability arising from an investigation of alleged kickbacks paid to surgeons to use the Solitaire medical device, a second ev3 neurovascular product. The family of Tyre Nichols has filed a federal civil lawsuit against the Memphis police over the 29-year-olds beating and death. On December 14, 2015, the district court entered a consent decree against the Correia Farm Limited Partnership d/b/a Wynsum Holsteins, a dairy farm located in West Addison, Vermont, and its co-owners Anthony and Barbara Correia and their son and limited partner Stephen Correia, to prevent violations of the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA). 8:21-cv-00188(M.D. The injunction prohibits defendants from manufacturing and distributing unapproved drugs, and, among other measures, requires Sonar to cease manufacturing until the company implements remedial measures, including establishing a quality assurance and quality control program and retaining an expert to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of Sonars operations. Isomeric manufactures, labels, and distributes sterile drugs, including injectable hormones, injectable corticosteroids, and ophthalmic drops. Gao was the supply chain manager for a Chinese firm that sold raw ingredients for use in dietary supplements. From 2006 to 2010, Akinyoyenu owned and operated an internet pharmacy called Apex Online Pharmacy. Press ReleasePress Release On Dec. 4, 2017, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district courts denial of Dr. W. Scott Harkonens coram nobis petition seeking to overturn his fraud conviction for ineffective assistance of counsel at trial. On June 5, 2017, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois ordered Dish Network, LLC to pay $280 million in civil penalties and damages to the United States and the states of California, Illinois, North Carolina, and Ohio in connection with more than 100 million illegal telemarketing calls. According to the complaints, both sets of defendants manufacture their products without FDA approval and without proof of safety and efficacy. British Man Indicted for Large-Scale Wire Fraud and Identity Theft SchemeUnited States v. Gareth David Long, Press Release 4. On January 13, 2017, the Department ratified a nearly $864 million settlement agreement with Moodys Investors Service Inc., Moodys Analytics Inc., and their parent company, Moodys Corporation over allegations arising from Moodys role in providing credit ratings for Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (RMBS) and Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDO), contributing to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. For HTML-formatted information, a billable page is calculated using a formula based on the number of bytes extracted (4,320 bytes = 1 billable page). On May 5, 2021, the Court entered a stipulated preliminary injunction against a St. Louis chiropractor, Eric Nepute, and his company Quickwork LLC, d/b/a Wellness Warrior, whom the government alleged were deceptively advertising vitamin D and zinc as COVID-19 treatments. Docket Number: 16-3861 (2d. In addition to two years imprisonment, Judge Judith E. Levy also sentenced Dailey to three years of supervised release. Canadian Men Charged in Alleged Mass-Mailing Elder Fraud Schemes United States v. Quaglia et al. Executives of Canadian Payment Processor Charged with Fraud and Money LaunderingUnited States v. Day, Press Release When contacted by prospective victims, the conspirators used false and fraudulent promises and documents regarding the puppies, shipping fees, and coronavirus exposure to extract payments. Justice Department and State Partners Secure Nearly $864 Million Settlement With Moodys Arising From Conduct in the Lead up to the Financial CrisisIn re: Moodys Investors Service Inc. Press Release On March 24, 2020, U.S. District Judge Robert N. Scola sentenced Rodolfo Hermoza to serve 88 months imprisonment in connection with his supervision of call centers in Peru that threatened American consumers into paying fraudulent settlements for nonexistent debts. Harkonen argued that his conviction should be overturned because his trial team failed to call any expert witnesses for the defense. United States v. Philip Morris USA, Inc., et al. On January 8, 2021, Dr. Yvelice Villaman Bencosme pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with an alleged clinical trial fraud scheme at a Miami clinical research company, Unlimited Medical Research. On May 5, 2020, the district court entered a consent decree of permanent injunction against Gold Star Smoked Fish Corp., a New York company, and its CEO and co-owner, Rober Pinkow. Complaint Filed Against California Hand Sanitizer Company Marketing Unapproved New Drugs United States v. Innovative BioDefense, Inc. et al. That scheme particularly affects elderly individuals throughout the country, and in several foreign countries. Among other provisions, the order bars the defendant from engaging in computer-security telemarketing, accepting payment for technical-support services, impersonating technology companies, and from conducting business through use of its email addresses in the @ozemioinc.com and @urgentechelp.com domains. The hearings will be held in Dallas before U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay. Press ReleaseDocket Number: 2:14-CV-4395 (E.D.N.Y.). Subject to Rules 23(e), 23.1(c), 23.2, and 66 and any applicable federal statute, the plaintiff may dismiss an action This will generate a listing of nationwide court locations and case numbers where a party is involved in federal litigation. Defendant Sentenced for Conspiring to Defraud the FDA and for Distribution of Over- and Under-Potent Compounded DrugsUnited States v. Paul Elmer and Caprice BeardenPress Release According to the complaint, consumers pay for items supposedly sold through the websites but never receive those purchases. In 2015, drugs manufactured by the pharmacy were potentially linked to a 2015 outbreak of Staphylococcus aureus infections in Rhode Island. Peruvian Man Sentenced to 100 Months Imprisonment for Overseeing Call Centers that Threatened and Defrauded American Consumers United States v. Hidalgo The courts order followed an eight-day bench trial that concluded in March. Weir admitted that claims the device could safely and effectively treat virtually any disease were false and intended to mislead consumers. Docket Number: 1:17-CV-0236 (S.D. A hearing on the governments motion for a preliminary injunction is set for February 21, 2019. Many alleged victims were elderly or otherwise vulnerable. The FDA has long warned against the use of SARMs, including stating in a publicly available 2017 warning letter that SARMs have been linked to life-threatening reactions including liver toxicity, and have the potential to increase the risk of heart attack and stroke. Docket Number: 3:18-CV-01908; 5:18-CV-01891 (N.D. Ohio). 1. Frappier was in charge of PacNets Marketing and Client Services departments, and Kelly oversaw PacNets Compliance Department. The defendants manufacture a variety of dietary supplements available on their website and in stores, primarily marketed to Chinese-speaking communities. Case and Mark Berman, M.D. 20-CV-4218 (C.D. Henrys Farm manufactured and distributed a variety of soybean sprouts and repackaged and distributed mung bean sprouts. FDA inspectors also found deviations from current good manufacturing practice requirements in the pharmacys sterile drug manufacturing operations. On March 31, U.S. District Judge James Jones denied Indiviors motion to dismiss a 28-count indictment alleging the company engaged in healthcare fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, and conspiracy to commit the same. Lledo is the third defendant to plead guilty in connection with the scheme. Judge Chhabria also ruled that FDAs guidance pertaining to genetically engineered animals cannot be challenged because it does not have direct and appreciable legal consequences, and therefore does not constitute final agency action. L.A. Star processed and distributed a variety of ready-to-eat fish products. The complaint also alleged that the defendants illegally distributed unapproved new drugs based on labeling claims that certain products treated diseases such as HIV and Alzheimers. WebCase Name Overview Federal Court Case Documents ; Lost Lake Holdings, LLC v. Town of Forestburgh (S.D.N.Y.) Mass.). According to the information, Bencosme and her co-conspiratorsincluding Bencosmes medical practice receptionist, Maytee Lledo, and two UM Research study coordinators, Jessica Palacio and Lisett Raventosfabricated the clinical trial by falsely representing in medical charts and other sources that subjects were participating in the trial when, in fact, they were not participating or taking the study medication as required.