Money Laundering Charge Added to FedEx Indictment for Illegal Online Pharmacy Shipments

New indictment alleges FedEx accepted payment from multiple online pharmacies knowing that the money had come from illegal prescription sales.

The US Department of Justice has filed a new charge against FedEx Corp in the California case indicting the company for distributing prescription drugs for illegal Internet pharmacies.

Filed on August 17, 2014, the new indictment alleges that FedEx accepted payment from multiple online pharmacies knowing that the money had come from illegal prescription sales. The charges claim that the company collected payment for the drugs at the time of delivery and returned the money to the pharmacies. The indictment also claims that the company maintained an internal list of hundreds of pharmacies that could be linked to a shipping site.

If convicted, FedEx could be hit with fines totaling an estimated $1.6 billion. The company pleaded not guilty to the latest charges and continues to claim innocence for the original charges.

“FedEx, of course, requires customers to pay for our services,” said Patrick Fitzgerald, senior vice president marketing and communications, in a press release. “The collect on delivery service referenced in the indictment is available to all of our millions of FedEx Express customers.”

The original indictment, filed July 17, 2014, charged FedEx with conspiring with 2 online pharmacies, alleging the company had knowingly conspired to distribute controlled substances and prescription medications to consumers without medical need and valid prescriptions. The indictment also alleged that FedEx knowingly delivered the substances to dealers and addicts, despite warnings from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), FDA, and members of Congress.

FedEx claims that it had requested a list of illegal online pharmacies from the DEA, but had never received such a list from the agency.

“We stand ready to help deliver the solution by working with law enforcement, but the responsibility to monitor, regulate, or police the activities of doctors and pharmacists lies with licensing, regulatory, and law enforcement authorities, not shipping companies,” Fitzgerald said in the release.