Amerika’da sahte kanser ilacı satan Özkan Semizoğlu 2 yıl hapis 3 ay hapis cezası, Sabahattin Akman 150 bin dolar cezaya çarptırıldı.
Özkan Semizoğlu, Amerika’ya yasadışı yöntemlerle sahte kanser ilacı sokmak suçundan 2 yıl 3 ay hapis cezası verildi.
Özay Eczacılık Dış Ticaret Müdürü Özkan Semizoğlu
İstanbul merkezli Özay Eczacılık firmasında Dış Ticaret Müdürü olarak çalışan Özkan Semizoğlu’na, ABD’ye yasadışı yöntemlerle sahte kanser ilacı sokmak suçundan 2 yıl 3 ay hapis cezası verildi.
Amerikan Federal Soruşturma Bürosu’nun (FBI), 2012 yılından bu yana peşinde olduğu ve uluslararası çapta bir operasyonla ele geçirilen Özkan Semizoğlu‘nun işlediği suçları itiraf etmesi ardından, yargı makamları ile uzlaşması sonucu en alt sınır olan hapis cezası ile cezalandırıldığı belirtildi.
ABD’nin Missouri Eyaleti‘ne bağlı Saint Louis kentinde, ABD’de üretilen kanser tedavisi ilaçlarının sahtelerini, ‘hediye‘, ‘ürün örneği‘ diye, sahte ambalaj ve etiketlemelerle ABD’ye soktuğunu itiraf eden Semizoğlu geçen aylarda kendisine yöneltilen suçlamaları kabul ederek mahkemeyle uzlaşma yolunu seçmişti.
FBI, ABD’ye ‘hediye’, ‘ürün örneği‘, ‘belge‘ adları altında, gümrük vergisi ödememek için de ürünleri çok düşük fiyatla ülkeye sokan Özkan Semizoğlu ve Sabahattin Akman‘ın, İngiltere’de bir aracı şirket kullanarak sahte kanser ilaçlarını önce ABD’nin California eyaletine yolladığını belirlemişti.
FBI, son üç konteyner dolusu ilacın California‘dan aynı yöntemle Missouri Eyaleti‘ne yollandığının saptanması ardından, her türlü hareketlerini izlediği Özkan Semizoğlu ile Sabahattin Akman‘ı, ABD toprağı olarak kabul edilen Puerto Rico’da gözaltına almıştı.
Özay Eczacılık CEO’su ve Genel Müdürü Sabahattin Akman
Suçlamalara karşı başta direnen şirketin CEO’su ve Genel Müdürü Sabahattin Akman da geçtiğimiz aylarda kendisine yöneltilen suçlamalara ilişkin itirafta bulunup mahkeme ile anlaşma yolunu seçmesi ardından 150 bin dolar cezaya çarptırılmıştı.
Sabahattin Akman ve Özkan Semizoğlu’nun suçu kesinleşti
ABD Adalet Bakanlığı, Sağlık Bakanlığı’na bağlı Gıda ve İlaç Dairesi (FDA), Federal Soruşturma Bürosu (FBI), Özay Eczacılık Dış Ticaret Müdürü Özkan Semizoğlu ile CEO Sabahattin Akman hakkındaki, sahte ilaçları ABD’ye yasa dışı yollarla sokma suçundan ceza verdi.
İşbirlikçi Doktora’da ceza
İlaçların, yeterli ve gerekli soğuk hava koşulları altında bile tutulmadan, ‘hediye’, ‘ürün örneği’ gibi belgelerle ABD’ye sokulduğunu ispatlayan Amerikalı yetkililer, ilaçları hastalarına satan Pakistan asıllı Amerikalı Doktor Abid Nisar’a da 2 yıl göz hapsi, 1 milyon dolar para cezası verdi.
Turkish Man Sentenced For Smuggling Counterfeit Cancer Drugs
St. Louis, MO – OZKAN SEMIZOGLU, the “Foreign Trade Director” of a Turkish drug wholesaler, was sentenced to 27 months in prison for smuggling counterfeit, misbranded and adulterated cancer treatment drugs into the United States, including multiple shipments of Altuzan® (the Turkish version of Avastin®) that he sent from Turkey to Chesterfield, Missouri.
According to Semizoglu’s plea agreement, Semizoglu used shipping labels that concealed the illegal nature of the prescription drug shipments, including customs declarations falsely describing the contents as “gifts” or “documents” or “product sample” with no or low declared monetary values. Semizoglu also ensured that large drug shipments were broken into several smaller packages to reduce the likelihood of seizures by U.S. Customs authorities and the corresponding loss of expensive drug shipments. Additionally, Semizoglu shipped some prescription cancer treatment drugs that needed constant cold temperatures to maintain their stability and effectiveness in shipping boxes without insulation or any temperature protection whatsoever. Given the length of time required to ship products from Turkey to Missouri, Semizoglu admitted he was aware that the packages would frequently arrive in the United States at temperatures outside the constant cold temperature range discussed on the drugs’ labeling.
Further, Semizoglu admitted in his plea agreement to selling Altuzan® to Richard Taylor, a United Kingdom drug wholesaler. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (“FDA”) Office of Criminal Investigations (“FDA-OCI”) previously seized Altuzan® from various U.S. physicians and customers of Taylor in 2012. The FDA-OCI ultimately determined that this Altuzan® received from Taylor and Semizoglu was counterfeit, with no active drug ingredient in the drug vials. FDA issued several public safety alerts about these events. FDA-OCI’s ongoing investigation has led to a number of related prosecutions in this District, including Dr. Abid Nisar, Sandra Behe, James Newcomb, Richard Taylor, Dr. Erick Falconer, Greg Martin, Kamaldeep Sandhu and Navdeep Sandhu, as well as prosecutions in the Southern District of California and the District of Maryland.
“Today’s sentencing marks a public recognition that we will continue to pursue and bring to justice those who violate the law and jeopardize public safety,” said Philip J. Walsky, acting director, FDA Office of Criminal Investigations. “National borders can no longer keep out criminal activity. As we did in this case, we will work with our international partners to protect U.S. public health.”
This case was investigated by FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations, with assistance from the United States Marshal’s Service, the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico, the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Johnson County, Kansas Sheriff’s Office Criminalistics Laboratory, Europol, the Bonn prosecutor in Germany (Staatsanwaltschaft); the Federal Criminal Police of Germany (Bundeskriminalamt, BKA); the Dusseldorf Police, the German State Criminal Police (Landeskriminalamt, LKA), the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, the U.S. Consulate General’s Overseas Criminal Investigations Branch in Istanbul, Turkey, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The case was prosecuted by the Health Care Fraud Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri.
Canadian Pharmacist Sentenced for Distributing Counterfeit and Adulterated Botox to Local Doctors
Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Eastern District of Missouri
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Wednesday, April 4, 2018
St. Louis, MO – Nikhil Buhecha, a resident of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, pled guilty today and was sentenced to 36 months’ imprisonment for conspiring to distribute counterfeit, misbranded, and adulterated Botox® into the United States, including multiple shipments to two doctors located in St. Louis County, Missouri.
According to defendant’s plea agreement, defendant owned and operated a sophisticated wholesale drug distribution business involving multiple persons in Canada, Panama, and Turkey. Defendant sourced Botox® from Turkey and shipped it to multiple U.S. doctors in Missouri and other states. According to the label for Botox® Cosmetic that was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), unopened vials of Botox® Cosmetic should be stored in a refrigerator at temperatures between 2° to 8° Celsius before dispensing to patients. Defendant’s drugs were adulterated because defendant’s business did not keep the Botox® at constant cold temperatures, and sometimes shipped and stored these drugs with no refrigeration or insulation. Further, some of the Botox® sold by defendant had counterfeit exterior packaging, and the manufacturing lot numbers on the exterior of the drugs’ cartons did not match the lot numbers on the drug vials inside the cartons.
FDA issued several public safety alerts about these events. This ongoing investigation has led to a number of other related prosecutions in the District, including Dr. Erick Falconer, Greg Martin, Ozkan Semizoglu, and Sabahaddin Akman. Two other Canadian nationals were convicted and sentenced under similar charges in August 2015. Kamaldeep Sandhu received a sentence of 24 months of imprisonment, while Navdeep Sandhu received a sentence of 3 months.
“Americans must have confidence that the FDA-regulated products they use are authentic, safe and properly labeled,” said Spencer E. Morrison, Special Agent in Charge, FDA OCI’s Kansas City Field Office. “We remain fully committed to aggressively pursuing those who place unsuspecting U.S. consumers at risk by distributing illegal drugs.”
This case was investigated by FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations, with assistance from the College of Pharmacists of British Columbia and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, as well as INTERPOL Washington and the U.S. Marshals Service.
Turkish Man Sentenced For Smuggling Counterfeit Cancer Drugs
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Missouri
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
St. Louis, MO – OZKAN SEMIZOGLU, the “Foreign Trade Director” of a Turkish drug wholesaler, was sentenced to 27 months in prison for smuggling counterfeit, misbranded and adulterated cancer treatment drugs into the United States, including multiple shipments of Altuzan® (the Turkish version of Avastin®) that he sent from Turkey to Chesterfield, Missouri.
According to Semizoglu’s plea agreement, Semizoglu used shipping labels that concealed the illegal nature of the prescription drug shipments, including customs declarations falsely describing the contents as “gifts” or “documents” or “product sample” with no or low declared monetary values. Semizoglu also ensured that large drug shipments were broken into several smaller packages to reduce the likelihood of seizures by U.S. Customs authorities and the corresponding loss of expensive drug shipments. Additionally, Semizoglu shipped some prescription cancer treatment drugs that needed constant cold temperatures to maintain their stability and effectiveness in shipping boxes without insulation or any temperature protection whatsoever. Given the length of time required to ship products from Turkey to Missouri, Semizoglu admitted he was aware that the packages would frequently arrive in the United States at temperatures outside the constant cold temperature range discussed on the drugs’ labeling.
Further, Semizoglu admitted in his plea agreement to selling Altuzan® to Richard Taylor, a United Kingdom drug wholesaler. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (“FDA”) Office of Criminal Investigations (“FDA-OCI”) previously seized Altuzan® from various U.S. physicians and customers of Taylor in 2012. The FDA-OCI ultimately determined that this Altuzan® received from Taylor and Semizoglu was counterfeit, with no active drug ingredient in the drug vials. FDA issued several public safety alerts about these events. FDA-OCI’s ongoing investigation has led to a number of related prosecutions in this District, including Dr. Abid Nisar, Sandra Behe, James Newcomb, Richard Taylor, Dr. Erick Falconer, Greg Martin, Kamaldeep Sandhu and Navdeep Sandhu, as well as prosecutions in the Southern District of California and the District of Maryland.
“Today’s sentencing marks a public recognition that we will continue to pursue and bring to justice those who violate the law and jeopardize public safety,” said Philip J. Walsky, acting director, FDA Office of Criminal Investigations. “National borders can no longer keep out criminal activity. As we did in this case, we will work with our international partners to protect U.S. public health.”
This case was investigated by FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations, with assistance from the United States Marshal’s Service, the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico, the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Johnson County, Kansas Sheriff’s Office Criminalistics Laboratory, Europol, the Bonn prosecutor in Germany (Staatsanwaltschaft); the Federal Criminal Police of Germany (Bundeskriminalamt, BKA); the Dusseldorf Police, the German State Criminal Police (Landeskriminalamt, LKA), the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, the U.S. Consulate General’s Overseas Criminal Investigations Branch in Istanbul, Turkey, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The case was prosecuted by the Health Care Fraud Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri.
Turkish Man Pleads Guilty To Smuggling Counterfeit Cancer Drugs
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Missouri
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
St. Louis, MO – OZKAN SEMIZOGLU, the “Foreign Trade Director” of a Turkish drug wholesaler, pled guilty today to smuggling counterfeit, misbranded and adulterated cancer treatment drugs into the United States, including multiple shipments of Altuzan® (the Turkish version of Avastin®) sent from Turkey to Chesterfield, Missouri. Sentencing is set for October 28, 2014.
According to Semizoglu’s plea agreement, Semizoglu used shipping labels that concealed the illegal nature of the prescription drug shipments, including customs declarations falsely describing the contents as “gifts” or “documents” or “product sample” with no or low declared monetary values. Semizoglu also ensured that large drug shipments were broken into several smaller packages to reduce the likelihood of seizures by U.S. Customs authorities and the corresponding loss of expensive drug shipments. Additionally, Semizoglu shipped some prescription drugs that needed constant cold temperatures to maintain their stability and effectiveness in shipping boxes without insulation or any temperature protection whatsoever. Given the length of time required to ship products from Turkey to Missouri, Semizoglu was aware that on many occasions the packages arrived in the United States at temperatures outside the constant cold temperature range discussed on the drugs’ labeling.
Further, Semizoglu admitted in his plea agreement to selling Altuzan® to Richard Taylor, a United Kingdom drug wholesaler. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (“FDA”) Office of Criminal Investigations (“FDA-OCI”) previously seized Altuzan® from various physician/customers of Taylor in 2012, and ultimately determined that this Altuzan® from Taylor and Semizoglu was counterfeit, with no active drug ingredient in the drug vials. FDA issued several public safety alerts about these events. FDA-OCI’s ongoing investigation has led to a number of related prosecutions in this District, including Dr. Abid Nisar, Sandra Behe, James Newcomb, Richard Taylor, Dr. Erick Falconer, Greg Martin, Kamaldeep Sandhu and Navdeep Sandhu.
“Today’s guilty plea marks a significant step in national and international cooperation,” said Philip J. Walsky, acting director, FDA Office of Criminal Investigations. “Federal, state and local officials in the U.S. and Germany and at Europol worked together in partnership to help protect the public’s health and remove a potentially unsafe medication from the U.S. marketplace.”
This case was investigated by FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations, with assistance from the United States Marshal’s Service; Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez , the United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico; the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; the Johnson County, Kansas Sheriff’s Office Criminalistics Laboratory; Europol, the Bonn prosecutor in Germany (Staatsanwaltschaft); the Federal Criminal Police of Germany (Bundeskriminalamt, BKA); the Dusseldorf Police; the German State Criminal Police (Landeskriminalamt, LKA); the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service; the U.S. Consulate General’s Overseas Criminal Investigations Branch in Istanbul, Turkey and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Two Turkish Nationals Indicted For Smuggling Counterfeit Cancer Drug
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Missouri
Thursday, January 16, 2014
St. Louis, MO – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri announced that OZKAN SEMIZOGLU and SABAHADDIN AKMAN, both from Turkey, have been charged with obtaining unapproved, misbranded, adulterated and counterfeit cancer treatment prescription drugs from Turkey and other foreign countries and smuggling the drugs into the United States, including three shipments sent from Turkey to Chesterfield, Missouri.
According to the indictment, which was filed this morning in St. Louis, Missouri, the defendants used shipping labels that concealed the illegal nature of the prescription drug shipments, including customs declarations falsely describing the contents as “gifts” or “documents” or “product sample” with no or low declared monetary values. Defendants also ensured that large drug shipments were broken into several smaller packages to reduce the likelihood of seizures by U.S. Customs authorities and the corresponding loss of expensive drug shipments. Additionally, the indictment states that the defendants shipped some prescription drugs requiring constant cold temperatures to maintain their stability and effectiveness in shipping boxes without insulation or any temperature protection whatsoever. Given the length of time required to ship products from Turkey to the United States, defendants were aware that on many occasions their packages of their prescription drugs arrived in the United States at temperatures outside the constant cold temperature range discussed on the drugs’ labeling.
Semizoglu and Sabhaddin Akman, both of Instanbul, Turkey, were charged by indictment by a federal grand jury with one felony count of conspiracy to smuggle merchandise into the United States and three counts of smuggling. Both were arrested this morning in Puerto Rico.
If convicted, each count of smuggling carries a maximum penalty of twenty years in prison and/or fines up to $250,000. In determining the actual sentences, a Judge is required to consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provide recommended sentencing ranges.
This case was investigated by the United States Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations, with assistance from the United States Marshal’s Service, the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Johnson County Crime Lab of Olathe, Kansas, and the United States Attorney’s Offices for the Eastern District of Missouri and the District of Puerto Rico.
As is always the case, charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.
