Defendant allegedly processed over $11 million in payments for counterfeit pills containing controlled substances on behalf of illicit online pharmacies
BOSTON — Homeland Security special agents arrested a California man who has been charged in federal court in Boston in connection with a money laundering conspiracy.
Jimmy Fu, 63, of West Hills, California, was charged by a criminal complaint with one count of a money laundering conspiracy. Fu was arrested on Oct. 30 and was released following an initial appearance Nov. 20 in federal court in Boston.
According to the charging documents, since November 2022, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New England has been investigating two online pharmacies believed to be operated out of India that advertised controlled substances for sale and distributed misbranded and counterfeit drugs, including drugs that contain controlled substances. It is alleged that online orders placed by customers in the United States were filled in several ways, including by illicit pill press locations operating in the United States as well as by shipments from overseas locations. During the investigation, a variety of counterfeit prescription drugs containing controlled substances were obtained through 18 undercover purchases. One undercover purchase of 60 Adderall pills was found to contain methamphetamine and caffeine. Another undercover purchase of 90 Adderall pills contained no active pharmaceutical ingredient.
Court documents allege that Fu was identified as the operator of Axson Engineering, Inc., doing business in Canoga Park, California as “Axson Data.” The business allegedly processed customer payments for controlled substances from the online pharmacies and wired the proceeds of these illegal purchases to various businesses located overseas. It is alleged that the wires were directed to a number of different businesses that identify as information technology consulting businesses, among other things.
It is further alleged that all 18 undercover purchases for counterfeit prescription drugs containing controlled substances were processed by Fu’s business Axson Data, with each of the payments deposited into an Axson bank account. A review of Axson’s bank accounts allegedly revealed thousands of checks deposited from individuals across the United States, including Massachusetts, for various amounts of money ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars. At least some of these payments allegedly correspond to purchases from the network of online pharmacy websites. Between January 2021 and August 2024, Axson’s accounts allegedly received approximately $11.5 million from individuals across the United States.
A search warrant executed for an Apple account associated with Axson allegedly revealed, among other things, a photo of a cell phone displaying an image of a drug test showing a positive indicator for methamphetamine, followed by a text message that read: “I ordered Adderall . . . I got this . . . it’s pressed meth. I said if they don’t have real Adderall I would take 20mg Ritalin to replace. They refused unless I sent these back (which is highly illegal).”
The charge of money laundering conspiracy provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $500,000 or twice the funds laundered, whichever is greater.
The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
The case was investigated by HSI New England’s Boston Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST) and the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations New York Field Office. Valuable assistance was provided by HSI West Palm Beach, HSI Northridge and HSI Las Vegas; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; U.S. Customs & Border Protection; the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; Federal Air Marshals; U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California; Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office; the Quincy and Framingham Police Departments in Massachusetts and the Henderson Police Department in Nevada.
The primary mission of HSI’s BEST task forces is to combat transnational criminal organizations by employing federal, state, local, tribal and international law enforcement authorities and resources to identify, investigate, disrupt and dismantle these organizations at every level of operation. BESTs eliminate the barriers between federal and local investigations and close the gap with international partners in multinational criminal investigations.
BESTs serve as an important tool to combat transnational criminal organizations engaged in drug trafficking, human smuggling, weapons trafficking and money laundering. There are over 90 BESTs throughout the United States and its territories, including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Follow us on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @HSINewEngland to learn more about HSI’s global missions and operations.