News Release
U.S. Department of Justice
United States Attorney
District of Rhode Island
June 22, 2009
Prosecutors, agents recognized for $2.7 million forfeiture
tied to Chinese hGH smuggling
The Department of Justice is honoring a team of agents and prosecutors in Rhode Island that developed a case resulting in the forfeiture of $2.7 million connected to the smuggling of illegal human Growth Hormone (hGH) from China into the United States.
Unites States Attorney Robert Clark Corrente, Richard Weber, Chief of the Department of Justice Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, and Mark Dragonetti, Resident Agent in Charge of the Food And Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations, jointly announced the award, which will be presented at a ceremony in Washington next month.
The Rhode Island case, a significant part of a nationwide initiative known as Operation Raw Deal, began with the discovery by agents of a parcel containing hGH from China bound for a post office box in Rhode Island. Subsequent investigation by a task force anchored by the Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations uncovered a network of hGH and anabolic steroid distributors, remailers and Web sites dedicated to the promotion and distribution of steroids and hGH.
Agents developed evidence showing that a Chinese company, GeneScience, manufactured about 90% of the hGH being illegally distributed in the U.S. Using primarily e-mail and Internet marketing, GeneScience agents facilitated distribution of hGH under the brand name Jintropin to customers in Rhode Island and other parts of the U.S.
For payment, GeneScience used wire transfers and bank-to-bank electronic transfers to accounts it controlled at two Chinese banks: the Standard Chartered Bank of China and Bank of China. nUtilizing a section of the Patriot Act targeting the use of the international banking system to promote illegal activities, task force agents seized from New York branches of those banks about $3.4 million linked to payments to GeneScience for hGH. After forfeiture proceedings in U.S. District Court, Providence, $2.7 million of that was ordered forfeited to the United States.
A portion of the forfeited assets will be used by task force agencies to finance future criminal investigations.
“As the award notes, this was an innovative use of asset forfeiture to target and dismantle the financial infrastructure of an international criminal enterprise,” U.S. Attorney Corrente said. “It was also the first ever use against Chinese entities of a section of the Patriot Act that allows prosecutors to bypass jurisdictional hurdles to capture assets secreted abroad and prevent the use of the international banking system to promote illegal activities.”
***
Recognized for their roles in the investigation, the asset forfeiture prosecution, and a parallel criminal prosecution:
Postal Inspector Almindo Correia, Postal Inspection Service
Special Agent Jason Giannelli, Drug Enforcement Administration (now with the FDA, OCI)
Special Agent Jason Rameaka, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation
Special Agent Jason Simonian, Task Force Supervisor, FDA, OCI Task Force
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Iannotti, Rhode Island
Assistant U.S. Attorney Milind Shah, R.I.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Browne, R.I.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Adi Goldstein, R.I.
Trial Attorney Fredrick Reynolds, Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, Department of Justice
Trial Attorney Linda M. Samuel, AFMLS, DOJ
Legal Assistant Linda Mazmanian, R.I.
The investigation also resulted in criminal indictments against GeneScience and several individuals, including the company’s CEO, Lei Jin, who is believed to be in China. The charges against GeneScience and Lei Jin are pending.
Contact: 401-709-5000 USARI.Media@usdoj.gov