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Department of Justice United States Attorney Candace G. Hill Contact: Dawn Masden |
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September 22, 2009
DOCTOR WHO PRESCRIBED DIET DRUGS OVER THE INTERNET SENTENCED IN FEDERAL COURT
– Controlled substances sold over the internet in the United States and in foreign countries
LOUISVILLE, KY – Tufan Senler, age 50, of Louisville, Kentucky, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn, II, following his earlier guilty plea to dispensing and distributing controlled substances, exporting controlled substances to foreign countries without a permit, money laundering and misbranding of drugs, United States Attorney Candace G. Hill of the Western District of Kentucky announced today.
On March 10, 2009, Senler pled guilty to an Information in which he was charged with all four counts described above. The information alleged that between 2002 and 2005, Senler, a physician, sold diet prescription drugs over the internet through his website dietprescriptions. com.
According to a factual basis contained in Senler’s plea agreement, Senler operated two businesses. Kentucky Body Works, d/b/a Weight Loss Plus, was a business in which Senler operated his weight loss clinic, and Science of Better Living was a business which operated his website. Senler admitted that he dispensed, distributed and exported diet prescription drugs through his website to customers who did not have valid prescriptions. He further admitted he did not engage in a legitimate doctor-patient relationship with the customers since he had no face-to-face contact with the customers who ultimately purchased the drugs. The prescription drugs were issued through the website and were not consistent with the professional practice of medicine. Moreover, Senler agreed that the prescription drugs were being provided outside the standard legitimate practice of medicine. Finally, the prescription drugs issued were not issued in compliance with Food and Drug Administration requirements, and thus they were adulterated and/or misbranded.
Senler admitted that did not have a valid exportation permit issued by the Attorney General of the United States during the relevant time period. Thus, Senler could not legally dispense or distribute controlled non-narcotic drugs to other countries.
Additionally, Senler admitted that he engaged in monetary transactions with the proceeds of this illegal activity. Customers’ deposits were placed into a Kentucky Body Works’ bank account and then subsequently transferred to Senler’s personal bank account. Some of these proceeds were used to make several purchases of property.
Senler admitted that he received approximately $15 million from his role in the above offenses. Senler received a sentence of 12 months' home incarceration, and was ordered to pay a fine of $5,000. In addition, Senler forfeited $3,114,035.36 from his ill-gotten gain.
The case was prosecuted by Lettricea Jefferson-Webb and Amy Sullivan and was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Agency, Kentucky State Police, Food & Drug Administration - Office of Criminal Investigations, the Internal Revenue Service, and the United States Postal Inspection Service.
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