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from the digital-idiocy-gets-back-to-reality dept.
Various sites report FedEx has been indicted for allegedly shipping prescription drugs from online pharmacies. WallStreet Journal provides a bit more details than the others:
The Justice Department on Thursday charged FedEx Corp. with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances for its alleged role in transporting painkillers and other prescription drugs that had been sold illegally.
In a 15-count indictment filed in San Francisco, federal prosecutors say that beginning in 2004 the company repeatedly ignored warnings from the government it was breaking the law by shipping drugs ordered from online pharmacies that dispensed them to anyone who filled out an online questionnaire. Among the charges included in the indictment are conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, conspiracy to distribute misbranded drugs, distribution of controlled substances and misbranding drugs.
FedEx has repeatedly asked for a list of online pharmacies that are illegally shipping prescription drugs, Mr. Fitzgerald [FedEx spokesman] said. "Whenever DEA provides us a list of pharmacies engaging in illegal activity, we will turn off shipping for those companies immediately," he added.
"We are a transportation company - we are not law enforcement," Mr. Fitzgerald added.
If found guilty, FedEx faces a potential fine of at least $1.6 billion, along with restitution and forfeiture of profits, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office in the Northern District of California.
Prosecutors say FedEx made at least $820 million shipping the drugs. If found guilty, the company faces a potential maximum fine of twice that. FedEx has been summoned to appear in court July 29 in San Francisco.
This world looks to my eyes more "the onion"-y by the day. How long 'til toll highway operators will be indicted for letting controlled substances passing through toll gateways?
[Ed's Note: Non-paywalled link]
(Score: 3, Informative) by Sir Garlon on Friday July 18 2014, @02:47PM
That is kind of like asking "why isn't the enforcement of all laws comprehensive, instantaneous, and flawless?" ;-) Even in an ideal world, it would take a while to determine who the bad actors are and what penalty their offenses merit.
We can only speculate because of the paywall. Maybe they have a mostly legal business. Maybe they are shipping from an address outside US jurisdiction and the only thing the Feds can do is block their shipments. Maybe they are like other crooks who simply shut down their operation when they sense they're under investigation, and start up in another location under another name. Maybe they're just idiots who figured they'd never get caught. Who knows?
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Friday July 18 2014, @03:48PM
Whoa, back up. One of Big Pharma's leading talking points on why US citizens should not order prescription drugs from outside the US is the supposed danger that those drugs will be of substandard quality or outright fakes. They provide no numbers. What percentage of foreign drugs are bad? Apparently no one cares to find out. And, what of the domestic supply? Does adultery of drugs never happen in the US because, you know, of our strong laws and enforcement?
They also push the thinking that even if these drugs are good, they're still illegal, manufactured or imported in violation of Big Pharma's patents. Never mind that those patents themselves might be no good, never should have been granted at all, perhaps being on a drug derived from a plant based treatment known to some native peoples for centuries.
One of the sickest incidents was the co-opting of US border guards, whose pay comes from the public, to serve the interests of Big Pharma by confiscating the prescriptions of seniors returning from a visit to Canada, in a few cases even if those drugs were brought from the US into Canada in the first place! The seniors didn't have proof the drugs were bought in the US, and were presumed guilty. Drilling FedEx is merely more of the same. Conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, yeah right. Trying to get unfair and extreme patents enforced against the will of the public, and to add to the insult, get someone else to pay for enforcement.
This story reads like Big Pharma wrote it. The Wall Street Journal is a known industry mouthpiece.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 18 2014, @04:02PM
" One of Big Pharma's leading talking points on why US citizens should not order prescription drugs from outside the US is the supposed danger that those drugs will be of substandard quality or outright fakes."
and, from my understanding, many of those same pharma companies buy their drugs or have them manufactured in other countries. IOW, the govt simply gives them a distribution monopoly. They get to produce their drugs in countries where labor and taxes are perhaps cheapest (to avoid having to pay Americans more for the same thing), which hurts jobs here in America and lowers our average pay, while at the same time they get to prevent us from buying directly from manufacturers overseas, which increases prices. They want to charge us to distribute drugs from other countries but they don't want to pay us to produce those drugs and they don't want to allow us to buy directly from those other countries at cheaper prices. They are simply a parasite middlemen leeching off of everyone else.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Friday July 18 2014, @08:17PM
Exactly. And Obama is using his DOJ to enforce this racket.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 19 2014, @02:15AM
Never pass up an opportunity to insult the Other Team and make it into partisan politics, right?