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DEA vs. Fedex and UPS: Why a Criminal Probe?

A criminal probe of Fedex and UPS has been ongoing over shipments of drugs purchased illegally from online pharmacies. The investigation is in the Northern District of California (San Francisco.) UPS appears to be cooperating while Fedex is not. Both companies revealed the probe in their latest quarterly registration statements. UPS said:

We have received requests for information from the DOJ in the Northern District of California in connection with a criminal investigation relating to the transportation of packages for online pharmacies that may have shipped pharmaceuticals in violation of federal law," the company stated. UPS said it was cooperating with the investigation and is "exploring the possibility of resolving this matter."

Fedex says: ""Settlement is not an option when there is no illegal activity." [More...]

It appears to be a historical investigation as both companies said they received subpoenas in 2007 and 2009. A jury in San Francisco last week convicted three defendants "of operating illegal pharmacies that used FedEx and UPS to deliver drugs without proper prescriptions." In all, there have been ten such convictions in San Francisco this year (including guilty pleas prior to indictment and from those who decided to cooperate after indictment, and a few who went to trial earlier in the case.)

Here's an article on the three men convicted last week in San Francisco. The trial lasted six weeks.

A federal jury in San Francisco convicted Pekin businessman Daniel Johnson and two other men Thursday of operating a $26 million online pharmacy to sell millions of prescription drugs over the Internet outside of legal and medical regulations.

... Federal prosecutors accused Johnson of operating the computer elements for a business in which the defendants filled orders for 4.4 million pills, 94 percent of them controlled substances. Most of the drugs were sold as tranquilizers, diet pills and impotency drugs

....Prosecutors told the jury the trio sold millions of pills to people across the country without face-to-face consultation by Carozza to confirm their need for medical prescriptions.

Fedex' Fitzgerald