Press Release
WHOLE SALE PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY OWNER GUILTY OF PRESCRIPTION DRUG DIVERSION AND WIRE FRAUD
August 29, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
R. Alexander Acosta , United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and David Bourne, Special Agent in Charge, Food and Drug Administration, announced that defendant Sheldon Kresler was found guilty by a jury of conspiring to commit wire fraud, prescription drug diversion and money laundering. Kresler faces a maximum statutory term of imprisonment of five (5) years on the conspiracy to commit wire fraud and prescription drug diversion and twenty (20) years on the conspiracy to commit money fraud. The jury also found that Kresler should forfeit $873,500 of the proceeds that he received from the fraud.
According to the evidence presented at trial, between November 1999 and January 2000, African Christian Relief, a charitable organization, placed eight orders with Schein Pharmaceuticals for the prescription drug, Infed, at steeply discounted prices under the guise that the Infed was to be sent to Angola, Africa, to assist the poor and needy in that country. Infed is an iron dextram injection prescribed and administered for the treatment of iron deficiency. In reality, Kresler, a 50% owner of Crystal Coast Inc., a wholesale pharmaceutical company, was purchasing the Infed through African Christian Relief at the reduced rate and re-selling it to customers within the United States at substantial profits. The evidence showed that, in a three-month period, Crystal Coast made a profit of almost $1,000,000.
Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the Food and Drug Administration. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Lois Foster-Steers and Lornette Reynolds.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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