Fake pharmacies in three countries, and pills in every US state
The DEA's October 2024 warning records an increase in illegal online pharmacies shipping counterfeit pills made with fentanyl and methamphetamine to people who believed they were buying Oxycodone, Adderall or Xanax from a real pharmacy. A network of 18 defendants was charged in the Southern District of New York in September 2024 with running fake pharmacies and pill mills across India, the Dominican Republic and the United States. On 1 June 2026 a jury convicted its lead defendant, Francisco Alberto Lopez Reyes, and one deputy; sentencing is pending and the other defendants' outcomes were not found.
- Year
- 2026
- Where
- United States, India, Dominican Republic
- Outcome
- Convicted
- Victims
- Not stated in the sources
- Schemes
- Fake online pharmacies
- Last reviewed
- 2026-10-10
The facts, as recorded
- The DEA issued its warning on 4 October 2024, recording an increase in illegal online pharmacies selling and shipping counterfeit pills.
- The pills are made with fentanyl and methamphetamine and sold to customers who believe they are buying real pharmaceutical drugs such as Oxycodone, Adderall and Xanax from legitimate pharmacies.
- In a charged case, 18 defendants are alleged to have operated a network of fake online pharmacies and pill mills in India, the Dominican Republic and the United States.
- Then DEA Administrator Anne Milgram described the defendants as having sold millions of dangerous fake pills to victims in every US state and the District of Columbia.
- She described the network as preying on Americans who believed they were purchasing legitimate medications from legitimate pharmacies.
- The DEA's One Pill Can Kill campaign states that the only safe prescription medications are those prescribed by a licensed medical provider and dispensed by a trusted pharmacy.
- The Southern District of New York announced the charges against Francisco Alberto Lopez Reyes and 17 others on 30 September 2024; the case was assigned to US District Judge John P. Cronan.
- On 1 June 2026 a jury returned guilty verdicts after a six-week trial before Judge Cronan: Lopez Reyes was convicted of continuing criminal enterprise, conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death, narcotics distribution and conspiracy to commit money laundering, and Edward Eustate Jimenez of conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death and narcotics distribution.
- The Justice Department says the Dominican Republic arrested Lopez Reyes and extradited him in 2024, and that the continuing criminal enterprise count carries a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison.
- At trial the evidence showed pills containing fentanyl, para-fluorofentanyl and methamphetamine shipped to thousands of victims in all 50 states, with shipment records showing more than one million pills over about two and a half years and about 650,000 more seized; one victim died of acute fentanyl intoxication in February 2024 after taking pills bought from one of the enterprise's pharmacies.
- The sources reviewed give no sentencing date or sentence for the two convicted defendants, and report no outcome for the other 16 defendants charged in the case.
Why this case matters
It names the products, and the names are the whole point: Oxycodone, Adderall, Xanax.
Not obscure drugs. Not lifestyle products. The three most widely prescribed controlled medications in America, for pain, for attention deficit disorder, and for anxiety, each of which is genuinely difficult to obtain and genuinely disruptive to run out of.
A person searching online for Adderall is very often somebody with a real prescription who cannot get it filled.
Three countries, one supply chain
The charged network is alleged to have run fake pharmacies and pill mills across India, the Dominican Republic and the United States, selling millions of counterfeit pills into every US state and the District of Columbia. At the June 2026 trial of the alleged leader and one deputy, the jury convicted both, so for those two men the supply chain described here is now a verdict rather than an allegation.
That geography is a supply chain rather than a coincidence. Manufacture in one jurisdiction, fulfilment in another, and a domestic presence to make the websites and the shipping look American, which is what the 2026 operation found again two years later, with the sites claiming to be US-based and FDA-approved.
Why a counterfeit pill is not like a counterfeit handbag
Counterfeit goods normally disappoint. These kill.
The DEA’s description is that the pills are made with fentanyl or methamphetamine, not that they contain too little active ingredient, or the wrong one, but that they contain substances that cause overdose at doses invisible to the person swallowing them. A counterfeit tablet is pressed to look exactly like the real one, and there is no way to tell by looking.
That is why the DEA’s advice reduces to a single line rather than a checklist: the only safe prescription medications are those prescribed by a licensed medical provider and dispensed by a trusted pharmacy.
What this scheme takes
Not principally money. The pills are usually cheap; that is the attraction.
What it takes is the assumption underneath the entire regulated drug supply: that a tablet which looks like a tablet is what the label says. Every other scheme on this site can be undone with a bank call made fast enough. This one cannot be undone at all.
The caveat
Two of the 18 defendants have been convicted. On 1 June 2026 a jury found Francisco Alberto Lopez Reyes and Edward Eustate Jimenez guilty on the counts listed above. They have not yet been sentenced as far as the sources reviewed show. For the other 16 defendants the charges remain allegations and they are presumed innocent; the sources reviewed report no plea or verdict for them.
Sources
- Illegal Online Pharmacies. US Drug Enforcement Administration. Accessed 2026-09-07. Supports: The 4 October 2024 warning, the fentanyl and methamphetamine content, the drugs being impersonated, the 18-defendant network across India, the Dominican Republic and the United States, the millions of fake pills sold in every US state and DC, and the quoted Administrator.
- DEA Operation Meltdown Shuts Down Hundreds of Illegal Online Pharmacies. US Drug Enforcement Administration. Accessed 2026-09-07. Supports: The One Pill Can Kill framing, the continuation of the same enforcement line into 2026, and the red flags for identifying an illegal online pharmacy.
- HSI New York, Federal Partners Announce Charges Against 18 Defendants in Scheme to Manufacture and Distribute Counterfeit Pharmaceuticals. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations. Accessed 2026-10-10. Supports: The 30 September 2024 announcement, the 18 defendants in the United States, the Dominican Republic and India, Lopez Reyes as lead defendant, the quoted Administrator's statement and the assignment to Judge Cronan.
- Two Defendants Convicted Of Engaging In A Massive Enterprise To Distribute Fake Pharmaceuticals Online That Resulted In Death. US Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York. Accessed 2026-10-10. Supports: The 1 June 2026 jury verdicts against Lopez Reyes and Eustate Jimenez, the counts of conviction and their penalties, the trial evidence, the 2024 extradition and the pill and shipment figures.