The e-commerce big eBay can pay $59 million in a settlement with the Justice Division over hundreds of tablet press machines bought on the platform, the Justice Division stated Wednesday.
The machines can be utilized to fabricate counterfeit capsules that look similar to prescription capsules however as a substitute might be laced with substances like fentanyl, a synthetic opioid drug that’s largely fueling the deadliest overdose disaster in U.S. historical past.
The corporate didn’t confirm patrons’ identities and maintain data required by legislation, and many individuals who purchased tablet presses on eBay have been prosecuted in reference to trafficking unlawful counterfeit capsules, the Justice Division stated.
EBay, headquartered in San Jose, California, supplies a platform for folks to make their very own on-line gross sales. It stated it agreed to the settlement to keep away from long-running litigation however maintained it didn’t break the legislation.
The corporate stated it had eliminated pill-making gear by itself and blocked “tens of thousands” of listings earlier than the Justice Division bought concerned.
“Government officials have repeatedly commended eBay for our partnership with law enforcement and efforts to support investigations into illegal pill press usage,” eBay stated.
Nonetheless, the Justice Division says there have been hundreds of circumstances the place folks purchased tablet presses on eBay, together with high-capacity presses able to producing hundreds of capsules per hour. Lots of of these patrons additionally bought counterfeit molds or dies that allowed them to make capsules mimicking legit prescription capsules, authorities stated.
Ebay failed to fulfill necessities that sellers of pharmaceutical manufacturing gear confirm patrons’ identities, maintain data, and report back to the Drug Enforcement Administration to verify the machines are traceable and never used illegally, federal prosecutors stated.
“Counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl are a significant contributor to the deadly overdose epidemic,” stated Affiliate Lawyer Basic Vanita Gupta.
Greater than 100,000 deaths had been linked to drug overdoses in 2022, based on the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, and over than two-thirds of these concerned fentanyl or related artificial medicine. The disaster at first centered on prescription painkillers that gained extra acceptance within the Nineties, and later heroin. Over the previous decade, the loss of life toll has reached an all-time excessive, and the most important killers have been artificial opioids resembling fentanyl which can be within the provide of many avenue medicine.
“Through its website, eBay made it easy for individuals across the country to obtain the type of dangerous machines that are often used to make counterfeit pills,” stated U.S. Lawyer Nikolas Kerest of Vermont.
The corporate has agreed to step up its compliance program on gross sales of tablet presses in addition to counterfeit molds, stamps and dies, and encapsulating machines, that are used to fill capsules.
EBay’s failure to comply with “basic reporting and record keeping requirements” allowed folks to “set up pill factories in their homes and to do so without detection,” stated U.S. Lawyer Henry Leventis for the Center District of Tennessee.
