SEATTLE — Two brothers were sentenced to 30 months in prison after they were found guilty of trying to sell counterfeit, adulterated drugs in the United States.
The brothers, Avanish Kumar Jha, 39, and Rajnish Kumar Jha, 36, are originally from India and were arrested in Singapore after an investigation involving multiple U.S. government agencies.
The brothers were arrested on April 20 based on a 2022 indictment.
They were extradited to the U.S. in January and pled guilty in June to smuggling.
They were sentenced in Seattle on Thursday.
The investigation began in 2019, after investigators saw postings on the internet and other evidence tied to the company that they ran, Dhrishti Pharma International.
The Office of Criminal Investigations (OCI) of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) used undercover agents to purchase products from the brothers.
Some products were found to be counterfeit, while others contained contaminants.
The brothers were shipping counterfeit and adulterated drugs from India to avoid detection by international customs and other regulators.
One of the counterfeit medications they sold was labeled as “Keytruda,” a medication used for late-stage cancer.
After testing the counterfeit Keytruda, they found that it contained no active ingredient.
“The issue here is the introduction of adulterated drugs to people who think they are getting lifesaving drugs… This activity has so much risk of causing harm,” said U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez during the sentencing.
In addition to the 30-month prison sentence, each brother was fined $50,000.
$81,596 in restitution for the drug maker that makes Keytruda will be considered later.
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