Five people indicted in alleged scheme to sell prescription drugs

A New Hampshire woman and four California men have been indicted for allegedly operating a scheme in which large quantities of a prescription drug manufactured by Serono Inc. of Massachusetts were illegally purchased from illegitimate sources at prices significantly below the price the manufacturer charges pharmacies, and then illegally distributed to wholesale distributors using false paperwork.

The 44-count indictment was unsealed Friday and announced today by the New Hampshire US attorney's office, which is prosecuting the case, and the Internal Revenue Service and Food and Drug Administration, which investigated it. It alleges that Beth Handy of Milford, N.H., Robert Hatch of LaQuinta, Calif., and Boaz BenMoshe, Ofer Lupovitz, and Robert McFadden, each of Palm Springs, Calif., engaged in wire fraud and money laundering in a conspiracy that generated nearly $963,000 in illegal proceeds.

The alleged scheme involved Serostim, an injectable HIV drug manufacturered by Serono SA, a Swiss biotech firm with its United States headquarters in Rockland.

According to the indictment, Handy arranged for the sale of the drug using falsified paperwork, and the drug was then shipped from California to wholesale prescription drug distributors in California and Tennessee, who believed they were buying from licensed wholesalers.
(By Sacha Pfeiffer, Globe staff)