Two Defendants Convicted Of Engaging In A Massive Enterprise To Distribute Fake Pharmaceuticals Online That Resulted In Death

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced today that FRANCISCO ALBERTO LOPEZ REYES, a/k/a "Frank," and EDWARD EUSTATE JIMENEZ, a/k/a "Chino," were found guilty by a jury following a six-week trial before U.S. District Judge John P. Cronan. LOPEZ REYES was convicted of being a principal administrator of a continuing criminal enterprise, conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death, narcotics distribution, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. EUSTATE JIMENEZ was convicted of conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death and narcotics distribution. The defendants' conspiracy was responsible for sending fake pharmaceutical pills that actually contained fentanyl and para-fluorofentanyl, which killed a victim.

"A unanimous jury found that Francisco Alberto Lopez Reyes and one of his deputies, Edward Eustate Jimenez, ran a massive, predatory scheme to distribute pills containing fentanyl and other drugs through fake online pharmacies, including pills that tragically killed a United States Army veteran in February 2024," said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. "For years, Lopez Reyes was a one-man opioid crisis, duping thousands of victims by distributing millions of pills through the mail from what he thought was the safety of his home in the Dominican Republic. The pills were designed to look like real pharmaceuticals, but they actually contained deadly fentanyl and other controlled substances. The scale of Lopez Reyes's distribution is staggering, as is the scale of the harm his shipments brought to our communities. A jury has now confirmed what New Yorkers know: if you deal in fentanyl, you deal in death."

As established during trial:

For at least two and a half years, LOPEZ REYES ran an enterprise that distributed pills containing fentanyl, parafluorofentanyl, methamphetamine, and other controlled substances via sales through purported online pharmacies. The pills LOPEZ REYES and his co-conspirators, including EUSTATE JIMENEZ, distributed were dyed, shaped, and designed to look indistinguishable from the prescription medications they were marketed as, including oxycodone and Adderall. The pills were shipped to thousands of victims in all 50 U.S. states.

In order to manufacture the pills, from his home in the Dominican Republic, LOPEZ REYES oversaw a series of pill mills-or industrial scale pill-pressing facilities-located primarily in the basements of residential buildings in the Bronx and Washington Heights. In those mills, deputies working at LOPEZ REYES's direction oversaw workers who mixed controlled substances with inert powders and dyes and then pressed those powders into millions of pills shaped and imprinted to match the design of the legitimate pharmaceuticals the purported online pharmacies had represented them to be.

LOPEZ REYES's deputies then transferred the pills to other members of the conspiracy-including EUSTATE JIMENEZ-for shipment to customers. LOPEZ REYES sent the shippers lists of customer orders and corresponding addresses. Those lists and other records maintained by the enterprise reveal shipments of more than one million pills to victims over a two-and-a-half year period. In addition, law enforcement officers seized another approximately 650,000 pills during the course of searches of mills and stash houses maintained by the enterprise.

The drugs the defendants shipped were not only dangerous, but deadly. On February 25, 2024, a 45-year-old, female veteran of the United States Army ("Victim-1") died of acute fentanyl intoxication after taking pills purchased from one of the enterprise's pharmacies. Although Victim-1 had ordered oxycodone, what she actually received were round, blue pills marked with an "M" on one side and a "30" on the other that were merely designed to look like oxycodone. In actuality, the pills Victim-1 received contained the lethal mix of fentanyl and para-fluorofentanyl that resulted in her death five days after their arrival through the mail on her doorstep.

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LOPEZ REYES, 46, of the Dominican Republic, was convicted of: (i) continuing criminal enterprise, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison; (ii) conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison; (iii) distribution of narcotics, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison; and (iv) conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

EUSTATE JIMENEZ, 24, of Washington Heights, New York, was convicted of: (i) conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison, and (ii) distribution of narcotics, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.

The minimum and maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by a judge.

Mr. Clayton praised the investigative work of the Homeland Security Task Force, International Narcotics and Money Laundering within the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations ("HSI"), which is comprised of law enforcement officers and investigators from the New York City Police Department, the New York State Police, and the Kings County District Attorney's Office; Groups D-21 and D-25 of the New York Enforcement Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration ("DEA"); the Homeland Security Task Force, Seaport Contraband of the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations; the United States Postal Inspection Service ("USPIS"), New York Division, Contraband, Interdiction & Investigations Task Force, comprised of members from USPIS, NYPD Criminal Enterprise Investigations Section, and Customs and Border Protection; the Internal Revenue Service; and the United States Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations. Mr. Clayton also thanked the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey, HSI Santo Domingo, the DEA Dominican Republic Country Office, the U.S. Marshals Service Dominican Republic Foreign Field Office, and the Department of Justice's Office of International Affairs for their assistance.

This case is being handled by the Office's Narcotics Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Katherine Cheng, Maggie Lynaugh, Chelsea Scism, and Adam Sowlati, as well as paralegal specialists Danielle Escamilla, Sophie Keegan, and Juan Munoz, are in charge of the prosecution.