Owner Of Major Online Business Sentenced to 46 Months in Prison in Largest-Ever Scheme to Import and Sell Counterfeit Products
From DOJ:
The owner and operator of Candy Color Lenses, a major online retailer of colored contact lenses in the United States, was sentenced to 46 months in prison today for running an international operation importing counterfeit and misbranded contact lenses from suppliers in Asia and then selling them over the internet without a prescription to tens of thousands of customers around the country.
In addition to imposing a prison sentence, defendant Dmitriy V. Melnik, 30, of Las Vegas, was ordered to remit $200,000 in restitution and forfeit $1.2 million in proceeds derived from the scheme as well as property seized during the investigation. Melnik pleaded guilty on Sept. 8, 2016, to one count of conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods and to introduce into interstate commerce misbranded devices.
From DOJ article:
According to the plea agreement, Melnik imported large quantities of colored contact lenses from the People’s Republic of China and South Korea that he knew were counterfeit and/or unauthorized by the FDA for sale in the United States. Many of these contact lenses bore labels with counterfeit trademarks for Ciba Vision FreshLook COLORBLENDS, which are manufactured by Novartis International AG (Novartis), and others bore labels of contact lense brands produced and sold in Asia, he admitted.
To read more details of this press release: DOJ
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