United States Attorney Dana J.

Boente
Eastern District of Virginia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
J UNE 6, 2014
WWW.J USTICE.GOV/USAO/VAE/

CONTACT: PRESS OFFICER
(703) 842-4050
usavae.press@usdoj.gov
Supplier of Non-FDA-Approved Chemotherapy and Cosmetic Drugs
Sentenced to 15 Months

ALEXANDRIA, Va. Mirwaiss Aminzada, 44, of Montreal, Quebec, and Dubai,
United Arab Emirates (UAE), was sentenced today to 15 months in prison, 1 year of
supervised release and restitution of $586,798. On Dec. 19, 2013, Aminzada pleaded
guilty to introducing misbranded drugs into the United States.
Dana J . Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia;
Antoinette V. Henry, Special Agent in Charge of the Food and Drug Administrations
(FDA) Office of Criminal Investigations; Karl C. Colder, Special Agent in Charge for the
Drug Enforcement Administrations (DEA) Washington Field Division; Clark Settles,
Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Washington; Gary Barksdale, Inspector in
Charge of the Washington Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and M.
Douglas Scott, Arlington County Chief of Police, made the announcement after
sentencing by U.S. District J udge Claude M. Hilton.
According to court documents, Aminzada, a U.S. citizen, was the owner and
operator of several companies based in Canada, the UAE and Afghanistan. Through
these companies, Aminzada obtained chemotherapy and cosmetic drugs intended for
Middle Eastern markets and sold those drugs to Gallant Pharma, an unlicensed wholesale
drug distributor based in Arlington, Virginia, for resale in the United States. Aminzada
used an employee in Pakistan to alter the drugs packaging and hide evidence of their
foreign source. In one e-mail exchange with Aminzada, the employee complained he
was unable to keep cold chain chemotherapy drugs refrigeratedwhich is required to
protect drug efficacy and patient health and safetybecause the electricity in Peshawar,
Pakistan kept going out.
Aminzada also was the source of vials of tampered Botox that were missing
safety caps, contained an unusual jelly-like substance and bore mismatched lot numbers
and expiration dates. The tampered Botox entered the U.S. supply chain through Gallant
Pharma, and some was administered to patients in New England.
To date, twelve defendants associated with Gallant Pharma have been convicted.
Two additional defendants named in the indictment, Robert Wachna and Munajj
Rochelle, remain fugitives and are believed to be in Canada.
This case was investigated by FDAs Office of Criminal Investigations, DEAs
Group 33 Diversion Task Force, ICE-HSI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, with
assistance from the Arlington County Police Department and Interpol. Assistant U.S.
Attorneys Lindsay Kelly, Maya Song and J ay Prabhu are prosecuting the case.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the U.S. Attorneys
Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae. Related
court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for
the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on
https://pcl.uscourts.gov.

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