Decatur Man Sentenced For Running Illegal Male Enhancement Ring

DECATUR, GA -- A Decatur man has been convicted and sentenced to five years and seven months in federal prison in a plot to distribute male enhancement pills containing the active ingredient in Viagra, U.S. Attorney John Horn announced Friday. Ismail Ali Khan, a 26-year-old native of India, was also sentenced for falsely stating that he was not a criminal on his application to become a naturalized U.S. citizen, federal prosecutors said.

Khan and his co-conspirators ran a $1.5 million illegal criminal enterprise that shipped drugs from Asia to the U.S. from early 2011 to May 2014, federal officials said. (For more local news coverage, subscribe to the Decatur Patch for daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

“This defendant endangered the health of countless individuals by illegally importing and distributing drugs that can be obtained in the United States only with a prescription written by a licensed, medical professional,” Horn said. “What’s more, this defendant became a naturalized U.S. citizen by giving a false statement to the government about his criminal history, while he was engaged in this illicit drug scheme. Khan’s willful criminal pursuit earned him more than a prison sentence. It cost him his citizenship and deportation after prison.”

Khan was part of a criminal export ring that hatched an elaborate scheme to import to the United States male enhancement pills with names such as “Maxman,” “Rock Hard Weekend,” “Stiff Nights,” “Happy Passengers,” “Hard Ten Days” from China. The pills' ingredients included the same active agent found in Viagra.

The ring's plot included mislabeling scores of drugs to evade detection by the Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The drugs were labeled as beauty products, pottery, coffee, and tea, federal prosecutors said. The illegal enterprise also housed the drugs in different addresses around metro Atlanta, including rental storage units under aliases and fake business names.

“American consumers are put at serious risk when they are unknowingly exposed to undeclared active pharmaceutical ingredients in products falsely labeled as natural dietary supplements,” said Justin Green, Special Agent in Charge, FDA Office of Criminal Investigations, Miami Field Office. “FDA remains committed to pursuing those who endanger the U.S. public health by distributing fraudulent and potentially dangerous products.”

U.S. officials were particularly troubled after learning that in August 2013, Khan filled out an application to become a naturalized U.S. citizen. The application asks: “Have you ever committed a crime for which you have not been arrested?” Khan falsely put, “No.” Two times in early 2014, Khan was interviewed by a citizenship representative asking whether he had ever committed a crime for which he had not been arrested. Both times, Khan lied, feds allege. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in March 2014.

After Khan's five-year sentence is served he will be subject to three years of supervised release. Judge Steve C. Jones also ordered that Khan’s naturalized citizen status be revoked and declared void. Jones also ordered that Khan be immediately deported to India.

Image via Pixabay