A married couple from New York has been sentenced after federal agents confiscated truckloads of illegal sex pills from their home.
Eduard Yusupov and Diana Fuzailov sold male and female sexual enhancement products online via their company Love Potion, Inc., claiming them to be made from natural ingredients.
But the products offered by the couple included erectile dysfunction drugs containing an undeclared ingredient: Sildenafil – the active ingredient in Viagra, according to court documents seen by The Independent.
Love Potion’s online advertising falsely claimed the drugs and dietary supplements, which were largely manufactured in China, were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This was not true, as Sildenafil must be sold via prescription.
Between November 2016 and February 2022, the couple received 200 parcels of sex pills to their home in Wading River, New York, before selling and shipping the products to customers located throughout the U.S.
Two such parcels were seized by customs officials in March 2021 and contained more than 20,000 capsules. The powder inside the capsules contained Sildenafil.
According to court documents, the couples’ earnings from the scheme totaled over $3.5 million.
Yusupov and Fuzailov pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud and introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce and were sentenced at a federal court on Long Island Thursday.
Judge Joanna Seybert sentenced Yusupov to a year and a day in prison and Fuzailov received three years of probation, according to The New York Times.
According to the FDA, “contaminating” drugs with undeclared substances constitutes a type of medical health fraud.
“Many products that claim to help with sexual enhancement or treat sexual dysfunction—such as male enhancement supplements, erectile dysfunction treatments, male energy pills and stamina pills—are likely to be contaminated with dangerous hidden ingredients,” the FDA website states.
“These contaminated products are a type of medication health fraud.”
Addressing the judge Thursday, Yusupov admitted to being “100 percent at fault” and said he was “addicted” to buying the pills, The NYT reported.
In a letter to the judge prior to her sentencing, Fuzailov’s lawyers wrote she had accepted her part in the crime and was remorseful for her actions.
“She did not set out to commit a crime or do anything illegal.” the letter said. “It is also acknowledged that she did not properly vet what she and her husband were doing and instead focused on making money without properly investigating the basis for the business.
“She also acknowledges that the lure of making money and paying off their debts took precedence over the red flags she increasingly became aware of.”
