PITTSBURGH - A resident of Mumbai, India, made his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh this afternoon to face charges of mail fraud, conspiracy to misbrand and smuggle drugs, conspiracy to import Schedule IV controlled substances and money laundering, Acting United States Attorney Soo C. Song announced today.
The 14-count indictment, returned on July 28, 2015, named Ramesh Buchirajam Akkela, aka Ramesh Bhai, 44, of Mumbai, India as the sole defendant. Akkela was arrested in Panama earlier this year. He was extradited to the United States yesterday.
According to the indictment, Akkela, an Indian Internet-based supplier of prescription drugs, supplied those drugs - without prescriptions - to U.S. consumers. He was indicted on 10 counts of mail fraud, one count of conspiracy to misbrand and smuggle drugs, one count of conspiracy to import Schedule IV controlled substances and two counts of money laundering.
Except for the conspiracy counts, each of which is punishable by five years imprisonment, all the other counts have a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Each money laundering count carries a maximum $500,000 fine, while $250,000 is the maximum fine for the remaining counts. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed would be based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.
Assistant United States Attorney Shardul S. Desai is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.
The Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations, Homeland Security Investigations, United States Postal Inspection Service, Pennsylvania State Police and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation conducted the investigation leading to the indictment in this case.
An indictment is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
