HOUSTON — A foreign national has been indicted by a federal grand jury with trafficking tens of thousands of dollars of counterfeit cancer medications into the United States.
Sanjay Kumar, a 43-year-old resident of Bihar, India, was indicted by a federal grand jury July 24 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas for conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit drugs and four counts of trafficking in counterfeit drugs.
According to the indictment, Kumar and his co-conspirators allegedly arranged for the sale and shipment of fake, counterfeit versions of oncology pharmaceuticals to individuals in the United States.
Kumar was arrested June 26 in Houston after traveling to the U.S. to conduct further negotiations aimed at expanding his business trafficking counterfeit pharmaceuticals in the U.S. market.
“Individuals who are in a fight for their life against cancer and other deadly diseases and afflictions shouldn’t have to worry about whether they are actually receiving the life-saving medicines that they need to get better,” said Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Houston Special Agent in Charge Mark Dawson. “Our special agents work tirelessly, alongside our partners, to track down the criminal organizations and individuals responsible for this abhorrent criminal conduct to hold them accountable and ensure that the public can have trust in the authenticity and efficacy of our nation’s drug supply.”
If convicted, Kumar faces a up to 20 years in prison on each count, as well as up to $2 million in fines.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Hileman is prosecuting the case along with trial attorneys Jeff Pearlman and Bryce Rosenbower of the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section.
For more news and information on HSI’s efforts to aggressively investigate intellectual property theft, counterfeit goods and trade fraud in Southeast Texas follow us on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @HSIHouston.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
About HSI
HSI is the principal investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel and finance move. HSI’s workforce consists of over 10,000 employees, assigned to 235 offices within the United States and 93 overseas locations in 56 countries. HSI's international presence represents DHS’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.