Illinois man makes deal, drug smuggling charge dropped
HELENA, Mont. (AP) - A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a case against an Illinois man accused of participating in an international cancer-drug smuggling conspiracy, after the man reached a deal to defer his prosecution.
The prosecutors who made the deal with Ram Kamath of Downers Grove asked U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen to drop the charge of conspiracy to smuggle goods into the United States against him. Kamath had been accused of conspiring with an online Canadian pharmacy to smuggle mislabeled, unapproved and counterfeit prescription drugs into the U.S.
Kamath was a small player in the alleged conspiracy, but he is the only one of 14 defendants from three countries to appear in court so far to face charges.
The U.S. Attorney's Office and Kamath's attorneys made a deferred prosecution agreement, which means the person charged with a crime has a certain amount of time to complete requirements set by prosecutors to avoid prosecution.
U.S. Attorney's Office spokeswoman Melissa Hornbein declined to say what specific requirements are in Kamath's agreement. Kamath's attorney, Max Davis, did not immediately respond to a call for comment on Tuesday.
Federal prosecutors accuse Canadadrugs.com, its CEO Kristjan Thorkelson and its affiliated companies and associates in the United Kingdom and Barbados of selling $78 million in illegal prescription drugs, mostly cancer treatment drugs, to U.S. doctors. Some of the drugs were mislabeled, others were not approved by the Federal Drug Administration and two types of cancer treatment drugs turned out to be counterfeit versions, according to the indictment.
The Canadian company's U.K. affiliate, River East Supplies, falsified customs labels to ship the drugs from abroad to unnamed companies in Illinois, Washington state and Tennessee for storage and distribution, prosecutors said.
When the company discovered the two counterfeit drugs, it tried to conceal the problem by asking Kamath to store some in his home while the company recalled them to the U.K.
Kamath was director of pharmacy policy and international verifications for an unnamed company, for which he inspected storage facilities kept by Internet pharmacies.
He had pleaded not guilty to being involved in the conspiracy. Prior to the deferred prosecution agreement, the judge denied two motions by Kamath to dismiss the charge against him.
Christensen said in his order that Kamath had an apparent minor role in a "massive and complex" alleged conspiracy, but federal prosecutors had met the requirements for making the charge against him.
Hornbein declined to say what progress, if any, has been made on extraditing the international companies and individuals named as defendants in the case.