Georgia couple imported erectile dysfunction drugs labeled as beauty products, feds say
A couple in north Georgia copped to importing more than a dozen types of male enhancement drugs from China disguised as beauty products and health supplies to evade U.S. import restrictions, according to federal prosecutors.
Now they’re losing their citizenship.
Irfanali Momin, 48, and Shiba I. Momin, 42, pleaded guilty to naturalization fraud, conspiring to illegally import misbranded drugs and trafficking in counterfeit goods, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia said Thursday in a news release.
“The arrest of this couple essentially stopped the flow of illegal products throughout the Southeast that were sold to hundreds of stores and ultimately customers whose health was threatened by using them,” FBI Special Agent Chris Hacker said in the release.
The scheme started in July 2014 and continued until November 2018, according to court filings.
During that time, prosecutors said the Momins ordered male enhancement products from China with names such as “Bull,” “Super Hard,” “Jack Rabbit,” “Pro Power Max,” “Rhino 69,” “Krazzy Rhino” and “Hard Steel” that contained the ingredient sildenafil. Sildenafil is the active ingredient in the male enhancement drugs Viagra and Cialis, which can only be obtained in the U.S. with a doctor’s prescription, prosecutors said.
According to the news release, the Momins had their suppliers in China intentionally mislabel the shipments as beauty products and health supplies, allowing them to evade detection by U.S. customs officials.
“The Momins admitted to selling between $550,000 and $1.5 million in illegal drug products over the course of the conspiracy,” prosecutors said. “They also sold various counterfeit goods from their warehouse in Dalton, Georgia, including counterfeit designer watches, headphones, e-cigarette devices, and tobacco rolling papers.”
The couple applied in 2013 to become naturalized citizens. Information from the U.S. attorney’s office did not include where the couple previously held citizenship.
But during the application process, prosecutors said Irfanali Momin lied when he “stated that he had never been married before and did not disclose that he had in fact been married to two women at the same time.”
His wife also lied about her identity on the application and used a fake name, according to the news release.
The couple was indicted in December and arrested the following month, court filings show. They were released from jail on a $25,000 bond each and are scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 7.
A judge will also revoke their U.S. citizenship “as a consequence of their guilty pleas to naturalization fraud,” prosecutors said.
