California Man Sentenced for Operating an Unlicensed Money Transmitting Business in Connection with Online Pharmacy Websites

BOSTON - A California man was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.

Jimmy Fu, 64, of West Hills, Calif., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Julia E. Kobick to one year and one day in prison, to be followed by one year of supervised release. In November 2025, Fu pleaded guilty to one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. Fu agreed to forfeit approximately $689,697.09 seized from various accounts.

Since in or around November 2022, law enforcement began investigating two online pharmacies believed to be operating in India that advertised controlled substances for sale and distributing misbranded and counterfeit drugs, including drugs that contain controlled substances. The investigation revealed that online orders placed by customers in the United States were filled in several ways, including by illicit pill press locations operating in the United States as well as via shipments from overseas locations with several illicit pill manufacturing locations identified as being involved in the shipment and fulfillment of orders. During the investigation, a variety of counterfeit prescription drugs, some of which contained controlled substances, were obtained via undercover purchases. One undercover purchase of 60 Adderall pills was found to contain methamphetamine and caffeine. Another undercover purchase of 90 Adderall pills contained no active pharmaceutical ingredient.

Fu was identified as the operator of Axson Engineering, Inc., doing business in Canoga Park, Calif. as "Axson Data." The business processed customer payments for controlled substances from the online pharmacies and wired the proceeds of these illegal purchases to various businesses located overseas. The wires were directed to a number of different businesses that identify as information technology consulting businesses, among other things.

During the investigation over 18 undercover purchases for prescription drugs were processed by Fu's business, Axson Data, with each of the payments deposited into an Axson bank account. A review of all of Axson's bank accounts revealed thousands of checks deposited from individuals across the United States, including Massachusetts, for various amounts of money ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars. At least some of these payments corresponded to purchases from the network of online pharmacy websites. Between January 2021 and August 2024, Axson accounts appeared to have received approximately $11.5 million from individuals across the United States.

A search warrant executed for an account associated with Axson revealed, among other things, a photo of a cell phone displaying an image of a drug test showing a positive indicator for methamphetamine, followed by a text message that read: "I ordered Adderall . . . I got this . . . it's pressed meth. I said if they don't have real Adderall I would take 20mg Ritalin to replace. They refused unless I sent these back (which is highly illegal)."

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations, New England; and Fernando P. McMillan, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by Homeland Security Investigations in West Palm Beach, Fla., Northridge, Calif. and Las Vegas; the Drug Enforcement Administration; Federal Bureau of Investigation; U.S. Customs & Border Protection; U.S. Postal Inspection Service; Federal Air Marshals Service; U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California; Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office; and the Quincy, Framingham and Henderson, Nev., Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorneys J. Mackenzie Duane of the Narcotics & Money Laundering Unit, Alexandra Amrhein of the Major Crimes Unit and Leslie Wright of the Health Care Fraud Unit are prosecuting the case.

This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/ocdetf.