DrugBuyers.Com: Online-pharmacy pioneer pleads guilty

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Posted on Thu, Sep. 02, 2004

HEALTHCARE
Online-pharmacy pioneer pleads guilty

BY JOHN DORSCHNER

In what may mark a major turning point in online drug sales, Vincent Chhabra, 33, a Broward pioneer in the Web pharmacy business, has pleaded guilty in Virginia federal court and will be sentenced to 33 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.

Chhabra also faces the possibility of paying millions in fines and forfeitures at his formal sentencing, scheduled for December.

In court proceedings late Tuesday afternoon in Alexandria, Va., his sister and business colleague, Sabina S. Faruqui, 30, also pleaded guilty and will receive a year of probation.

Five others, including a pharmacist and a doctor, have already pleaded guilty in the case, and another four are scheduled to go on trial next week.

Chhabra was originally charged with 108 counts relating to his Davie pharmacy, RxNetwork, and websites that provided diet pills to customers based solely on them filing out an online questionnaire. Prosecutors accused him of gaining more than $125 million from his business.

''I hope this serves as a warning to all who think of the Internet as a good place to do bad business,'' said Paul J. McNulty, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, in a prepared statement.

The Chhabra case is one of less than a half-dozen in which federal prosecutors have moved against drug-selling websites, which have numbered in the hundreds, if not thousands, in the United States.

Carmen Catizone, executive director of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, said that because of the U.S. authorities cracking down, ``many of the illegal websites are moving offshore. Some have affiliates in the United States, but authorities are moving against U.S. sites. But websites in Belize and Bangladesh are growing by leaps and bounds.''

Such sites are ''almost impossible'' for U.S. authorities to stop, Catizone said.

In a telephone interview with The Herald, McNulty said, ``It would be nice to think that this case has deterred some operators, and the timing suggests there may be some connection, but it is hard to confirm that type of thing.''

Chhabra always maintained he believed he was doing nothing illegal.

One of his attorneys, Sean Ellsworth, said Wednesday, ``Mr. Chhabra was facing a 78-count indictment, which included a charge of continuing criminal enterprise, which by itself carried a 20-year minimum mandatory. The plea deal he accepted was 33 months and was linked to his sister's plea, in which she received probation. The other important factor was the government's assurance that his parents would not be prosecuted.''

As part of the plea bargain, Chhabra may be asked to forfeit 15 luxury vehicles, including six Mercedes; 72 pieces of jewelry; the funds in 60 bank accounts scattered around the world, including Ireland, India, Hong Kong, St. Kitts, the Bahamas; and property, including a $2 million office building in Weston.

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They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty or safety" Ben Franklin