The Justice Department unveils sweeping criminal charges against ten pharmaceutical distributors and brokers for unlawful sales of 70 million opioid pills.
Unprecedented Federal Crackdown on Opioid Distribution Network
In a sweeping enforcement action, federal authorities have charged ten executives, sales representatives, and brokers from pharmaceutical distribution companies with unlawfully supplying nearly 70 million opioid pills to pill-mill pharmacies in the Houston area. The illicit drugs, including oxycodone, hydrocodone, and hydromorphone, had an estimated street value of over $1.3 billion, marking this case as the largest criminal action of its kind in U.S. history.
The defendants, charged across multiple districts, are accused of capitalizing on the opioid crisis by selling highly addictive drugs at inflated prices to rogue pharmacies, knowing the drugs would end up on the black market. These distributors allegedly provided powerful prescription drugs in their most abused forms, including potentiators like alprazolam and promethazine with codeine syrup, which are notorious for intensifying the effects of opioids.