Update: Counterfeit Drug Seller Sentenced to 33 Months in Prison

Ottawa, August 31, 2010 — Further to an investigation led by the Alberta Partnership Against Cross-Border Fraud, of which the Competition Bureau is a member, an Edmonton man was sentenced on August 25 in U.S. court to 33 months in prison for selling counterfeit cancer drugs over the Internet.

Hazim Gaber (22) was also ordered to pay a US$75,000 fine, an additional US$53,724 in restitution, and to serve three years on supervised release following his prison term.

Gaber, who pleaded guilty to five counts of wire fraud, admitted to selling what he falsely claimed was the experimental cancer drug sodium dichloroacetate, also known as DCA, to at least 65 victims in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium and the Netherlands between October and November 2007. DCA is a highly sought-after, experimental cancer drug that cannot be prescribed by a doctor in Canada or the United States, as it is neither approved for use in patients with cancer, nor available in pharmacies.

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