Miami Man Charged With Selling Counterfeit Lipitor FINAL Edition

The Kansas City court records contend that Julio Cesar Cruz, 41, sold counterfeit Lipitor through small pharmaceutical wholesalers in Tennessee, Florida and Kansas City, and through a firm in Nebraska that repackages bulk shipments into smaller bottles for consumers. Cruz also faces state racketeeri...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Washington post
Main Author Mary Pat Flaherty and Gilbert M. Gaul
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Washington, D.C WP Company LLC d/b/a The Washington Post 06.12.2003
Subjects
Counterfeiting
Cruz, Julio Cesar
Drug trafficking
Prescription drugs
Product recalls
Kansas City Missouri
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Summary:The Kansas City court records contend that Julio Cesar Cruz, 41, sold counterfeit Lipitor through small pharmaceutical wholesalers in Tennessee, Florida and Kansas City, and through a firm in Nebraska that repackages bulk shipments into smaller bottles for consumers. Cruz also faces state racketeering and fraud charges in Florida over alleged counterfeit drug sales. Records uncovered in the scheme suggested the Lipitor originated in Puerto Rico, court filings in Kansas City show, but the Puerto Rican manufacturers deny involvement. Several federal and state investigators and some industry security officials briefed on the case previously told The Post that some counterfeit Lipitor came from shipments bound for overseas that were hijacked on loading docks in Miami, while other tablets appear to be fakes made in Costa Rica and illegally shipped to the United States. Records of the Lipitor sales were among items seized by Florida agents in their case. The recall also was prompted by complaints from patients who noticed that bottles containing their Lipitor were oversized, while other patients complained of a bitter taste to their pills. The FDA said there have been no reports of harm from the suspect Lipitor but that there was a chance patients received ineffective medicine or pills manufactured under less-than-ideal conditions.
ISSN:0190-8286