LifeLogic Pharmaceuticals Owner Pleads Guilty in Misbranded Drugs Case
A Cranston, Rhode Island businessman, Arif Diwan, has pleaded guilty to charges that he and his company, Lifescreen LLC sold pharmaceuticals purchased from India and other countries as FDA-approved medication. Diwan purchased the drugs abroad, then repackaged and forged labels for them in Rhode Island. He sold the drugs with as having been produced by Lifelogic Pharmaceuticals. Diwan admitted that he rebranded and relabeled drugs manufactured in India, including adding bogus FDA codes and other markings to make it appear that the drugs had been manufactured in the United States or Europe and were approved for sale by the FDA. Diwan sold drugs to customers in numerous countries outside the United States.
Who: FDA-OCI, US Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations, Interpol, Europol, Belgian Federal Judicial Police.
When: June 20, 2016, 2012-2015.
Where: Cranston, Rhode Island.
How: Investigation by FDA OCI and the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island.
Additional details: Diwan only sold his pharmaceuticals to customers who did not reside in the United States. Investigations uncovered the fact that Arif Diwan created and provided fraudulent Certificates of Origin, which purported to attest to the country of origin of the medication he sold. He also created fraudulent Certificates of Analysis, which falsely attested to the purity, strength, manufacture dates, and expiration dates of the drugs. Valid certificates are heavily relied upon in the pharmaceutical industry and by Government agencies to ensure the safety and efficacy of pharmaceuticals.
Related sources:
“ R.I. Businessman Pleads Guilty to Running International Scheme to Label and Sell Misbranded Drugs,” DOJ, June 20, 2016.
“R.I. Businessman Pleads Guilty to Running International Scheme to Label and Sell Misbranded Drugs,” FDA, June 20, 2016
” Businessman Pleads Guilty to Selling Mislabeled Drugs,” NECN, June 20, 2016
“ RI Business Owner Pleads Guilty to Labeling & Selling Misbranded Drugs,” GoLocal Prov News, June 20, 2016
“ FDA Unearths Counterfeit Scam: Drugs with Bogus FDA Labels,” PharmaPro, June 22, 2016