United States of America v. Jimmy Fu

Boston, Massachusetts, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with operating an unlicensed transmitting business.

Jimmy Fu, 64, of West Hills, California, operated an unlicensed money transmitting business and had $689,697.09 in various accounts as a result.

Since in or around November 2022, law enforcement began investigating two online pharmacies believed to be operating in India that advertised controlled substances for sale and distributing misbranded and counterfeit drugs, including drugs that contain controlled substances. The investigation revealed that online orders placed by customers in the United States were filled in several ways, including by illicit pill press locations operating in the United States as well as via shipments from overseas locations with several illicit pill manufacturing locations identified as being involved in the shipment and fulfillment of orders. During the investigation, a variety of counterfeit prescription drugs, some of which contained controlled substances, were obtained via undercover purchases. One undercover purchase of 60 Adderall pills was found to contain methamphetamine and caffeine. Another undercover purchase of 90 Adderall pills contained no active pharmaceutical ingredient.

Fu was identified as the operator of Axson Engineering, Inc., doing business in Canoga Park, Calif. as “Axson Data.” The business processed customer payments for controlled substances from the online pharmacies and wired the proceeds of these illegal purchases to various businesses located overseas. The wires were directed to a number of different businesses that identify as information technology consulting businesses, among other things.

During the investigation over 18 undercover purchases for prescription drugs were processed by Fu’s business, Axson Data, with each of the payments deposited into an Axson bank account. A review of all of Axson’s bank accounts revealed thousands of checks deposited from individuals across the United States, including Massachusetts, for various amounts of money ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars. At least some of these payments corresponded to purchases from the network of online pharmacy websites. Between January 2021 and August 2024, Axson accounts appeared to have received approximately $11.5 million from individuals across the United States.

A search warrant executed for an account associated with Axson revealed, among other things, a photo of a cell phone displaying an image of a drug test showing a positive indicator for methamphetamine, followed by a text message that read: “I ordered Adderall . . . I got this . . . it’s pressed meth. I said if they don’t have real Adderall I would take 20mg Ritalin to replace. They refused unless I sent these back (which is highly illegal).”

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The Court orders the defendant committed to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons for a term of 12 months and one day on Count 1. Upon release, the defendant is placed on a term of supervised release for a term of 1 year on Count 1, with mandatory, standard and special conditions. The Court does not order a fine. The Court further imposes a special assessment of $100.