Bootleg Viagra For five years, Seon Il Kim of Waikiki allegedly manufactured bootleg Viagra in his Lewers Street apartment and sold bottles of the blue male potency pills to his customer base of tourists in Hawaii and Japan for $300 a bottle, according to federal agents.
pops up on Oahu
The Waikiki arrest is part of
a growing problem nationwideBy Sally Apgar
sapgar@starbulletin.comBut his boutique business came to an abrupt end this week, after a former girlfriend contacted federal Food and Drug agents in Los Angeles last July and gave them two samples of blue diamond-shaped pills, according to court documents.
On Wednesday, federal agents raided Kim's apartment and, according to documents, found all the equipment for "an elaborate and complete counterfeiting operation" that included three pill presses that imprinted the Pfizer drug company logo.
On Thursday, Kim, also known as Hyo Ik Cho, was indicted by a federal grand jury of counterfeiting Viagra and selling the drug without a valid prescription.
Kim is the first indicted Viagra counterfeiter in Hawaii. Nationally, counterfeit Viagra, smuggled in from mainland China and India sometimes concealed in stuffed teddy bears, shipments of other pharmaceuticals or hidden in stereo speakers have been a problem since the male sexual enhancement drug hit the U.S. market in 1998.
In addition to Kim's indictment Thursday, two men were indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury for allegedly selling six bottles of Viagra at a cost of $300 each to undercover agents in the parking lot of the Honolulu Zoo. The two men, Yoshihiro Kurashima and Morikatsu Hirata were charged with dispensing the drug without a prescription.
"These are the first two cases to come to our attention in a number of years," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Osborne.
But nationally, counterfeit Viagra, often sold over the Internet, has been a problem as it has streamed in from manufacturing operations from mainland China to Bombay, India. Federal agents say the profit margins are big and the risks are relatively low when compared to pushing illegal drugs such as heroin.
Last week, a man in New York who pleaded guilty to importing and selling bootleg Viagra made in China was sentenced to four years in prison. He sold the drug over the Internet for between 50 cents and $6 a pill.
In the United States, Pfizer Corporation of New York is the exclusive manufacturer of Viagra. Distributed to pharmacies in bottles of 30 tablets, the wholesale cost is about $7 a pill and retail is closer to $10. Last year, sales of Viagra topped $1 billion. Since 1998 when the drug was first approved in the U.S., more than 12 million men have taken the drug nationally and more than 20 million take it worldwide.
Law enforcement officials say that victims are reluctant to report they have bought counterfeit Viagra. Officials also worry about health risks, including the levels used of sildenafil, Viagra's active ingredient, and whether the pills contain other substances, herbal substitutes or contaminants that could be harmful.
Viagra originally was studied in England as a possible remedy for angina, a painful heart ailment. Early in clinical trials, males test subjects who took the drug three times a day began reporting a certain side effect for which the drug is now world renowned.
In congressional testimony last July, John Theriault, vice president of Pfizer's corporate security, testified that soon after Viagra was put on the U.S. market, Pfizer began receiving reports that it was available in markets where it had not been approved. Pfizer employees purchased the product and determined it was authentic Viagra that had been diverted from legal markets.
China has had a centuries-old preoccupation with drugs and herbs designed to increase sexual potency. Chinese newspapers reported in early 1999 that the drug was being trafficked to China and replacing time-honored potions such as "Big Hero Pill" and "Essence of Tyrant."
In April 1998, Japanese men began booking trips to Hawaii to get checkups, blood tests and prescriptions. One travel agency offered its cheapest Viagra trip for four days at a cost of $710 for the flight and accommodations. An additional $600 was needed for the consultation and first bottle. A second bottle could be purchased for $300 but each visitor was limited to two bottles.
A team of Pfizer employees, said Theriault in his congressional testimony, began investigating the flow of counterfeit Viagra and focused efforts on China. As a result, Chinese officials conducted 122 raids, arrested eight people and seized more than one million tablets.
In New York, the Manhattan District Attorney conducted a 17-month investigation and uncovered four supply streams: three from China and one from India. The factories were efficient enough that its distributors told federal undercover agents they would be able to supply 2.5 million tablets on a monthly basis.
In May 2002, New York indicted seven people and five companies for manufacturing and selling counterfeit Viagra over the Internet.
In Ohio, Hassib Selbak, a self-employed carpet cleaner doing business as "Mr. Spotless" was arrested after agents allegedly intercepted 36,000 counterfeit tablets concealed in stuffed animals that were consigned to "Mr. Spotless" from a fictitious Chinese toy company.
In his congressional testimony, Theriault testified that counterfeit Viagra is manufactured in a secret "world that could care less about regulatory and legal standards of medical quality, good manufacturing practices, consumer health and safety ... It is a world of sophisticated -- and some not so sophisticated -- organized criminal enterprises accountable to no one."