5 More Charged in Drug Diversion Scheme

The Department of Justice says a Florida grand jury charged five additional defendants for their roles in an alleged scheme to purchase and distribute millions of dollars in diverted prescription drugs. A department statement says 14 people have now been charged in the scheme.

The 6/10 indictment charged the five with money laundering, mail fraud, and violations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. It alleges that the 14 defendants purchased large quantities of diverted pharmaceutical drugs on the unregulated, underground market at a cost well below normal wholesale prices. They then allegedly used seemingly legitimate wholesale companies and fraudulent paperwork to introduce the diverted drugs back into the legitimate marketplace by selling them to unwitting pharmacies and consumers at big mark-ups, the government says.

The operation reportedly was so large that the co-conspirators purchased two wholesale drug companies and chartered a plane to deliver the drugs.