Originally published February 15 2006
Medical distributor stands accused of trying to sell Lipitor knockoff
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
According to the Kansas City Star, Douglas Albers and his company, Albers Medical Distributors Inc., have been charged with trying to sell a fake version of the cholesterol drug Lipitor.
A grand jury on Wednesday added new counts to an indictment charging a Leawood man, his pharmaceutical company and others with conspiring to sell fake Lipitor.
The charges also seek a $10 million forfeiture against two of the defendants.
The additional federal charges include counts for conspiracy and mail and wire fraud against Douglas C. Albers, 54, of Leawood; his company, Albers Medical Distributors Inc.; and Paul Louis Kriger, 48, of Thousand Oaks, Calif.
They and 11 others were charged in August after an investigation led to the recall of more than 18 million tablets of counterfeit Lipitor, a cholesterol-fighting drug.
The new charges also seek $10 million in forfeitures against Albers and Kriger, which prosecutors said they reaped from mail fraud in the $42 million scheme.
Charles German, a lawyer representing Kriger, said the new charges were not a surprise because prosecutors had hinted they might bring new allegations.
Kriger owned OTS Sales Inc., which bought and sold drugs in the wholesale market for Albers Medical.
According to court papers, Albers Medical bought $12.8 million worth of fake Lipitor from a Florida wholesaler, G&K Pharma, which was owned by Michael Allyn Carlow, a felon with a long criminal record.
The new charges allege that Albers and Kriger paid more than $115,000 in secret kickbacks to California businessman Christopher W. Lamoreaux, who was president of NuCare Pharmaceuticals.
NuCare repackaged bulk drug shipments for customers of Albers Medical.
Lamoreaux was convicted in July 2004 of mail fraud for accepting the kickbacks.
Coelyn was charged with fraud in a related case and pleaded guilty in April 2004.
The new charges also contend that Albers and Kriger conspired to commit mail fraud with Julio Cesar Cruz of Miami.
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