A man in Florida was arrested earlier this week after being accused of distributing more than $230 million worth of adulterated HIV drugs.
Lazaro Hernandez, 51, is allegedly an accomplice in a larger scheme attempting to defraud the FDA and distribute misbranded HIV drugs.
In the indictment unsealed this week, the DOJ outlined that Hernandez and his accomplices acquired large quantities of HIV medication illegally and then created fake documentation to make it appear as though the drugs had been obtained legitimately. They then established licensed wholesale drug distribution companies in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Florida and used those companies to sell the adulterated drugs at steep discounts to other co-conspirators at wholesale pharmaceutical distributors in Mississippi, Maryland and New York.
The distributors would then resell the drugs to pharmacies, which would then bill insurers and dispense the medications to patients.
According to the charges the events took place between 2019 and 2021, and Hernandez used several corporations in Miami to launder the millions of dollars. According to the indictment, Hernandez is also charged in a separate, superseding indictment in Miami.