Fugitive Who
Sold Counterfeit Baby Formula
Sentenced to 44 Months Imprisonment
A man who fled the county and remained a fugitive for six years after
realizing he was under investigation was sentenced today to nearly four years in
federal prison for his involvement in a conspiracy to sell counterfeit Similac
baby formula. Release No. 02-175
Mohamad Mostafa, 43, who at the time of the criminal
conduct lived in Orange County, was sentenced to 44 months in prison by United
States District Judge Alicemarie H. Stotler.
Mostafa, who was arrested
in Canada in 2001 after fleeing the United States in 1995 after his scheme to
produce and sell large quantities of Similac was discovered, was convicted in
August by Judge Stotler, who presided over a three-day bench trial. Mostafa was
found guilty of conspiracy, misbranding food after being held for sale in
interstate commerce, and two counts of trafficking in counterfeit goods.
Mostafa was the owner and operator of M&M Wholesale, which
purported to be a wholesale grocery business with an office in Stanton and a
warehouse in Santa Ana. While M&M Wholesale appeared to be distributing
grocery products, the company in fact was manufacturing, packaging and
distributing counterfeit infant formula throughout California.
The
infant formula used by Mostafa came from an out-of-state supplier, who provided
the formula to Mostafa under the condition that it would be used exclusively for
export to the Middle East. Instead, Mostafa caused laborers to package it in
cans bearing a counterfeit reproduction of the well-known Similac infant formula
label. Mostafa then sold the counterfeit product as Similac to wholesalers, who
in turn sold it to retail stores throughout California, including Safeway.
The counterfeiting scheme quickly unraveled when numerous parents, who
were familiar with the authentic Similac product, called the lawful manufacturer
to complain. It was later determined that thousands of cases of the fake
product had been sold throughout California.
The matter was widely
publicized in national and local media after the FDA and Similac’s manufacturer
issued a warning about the counterfeit product. After the matter was in the
media, Mostafa fled the country and was not heard from again until being
arrested in October 2001 in Canada and brought to the United States to stand
trial.
This case is the product of an investigation by the Food and
Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations.
###
>> Return to the DOJ CyberCrime Trademark Index Page
>> Return to the DOJ CyberCrime Index Page