Members of a gang that made up to £60,000 a week selling fake Viagra through a bogus mail order fishing tackle business have been sentenced for their part in what was described by a judge as a “highly organised, large-scale criminal enterprise”.
Judge Charles Wide QC said “the real mischief is the catastrophic damage that could be caused” to the public, noting that pharmaceutical companies had pointed out that acid, brick dust and road paint had been found in fake Viagra.
The scam, which had bases in north-east Lincolnshire and Sussex, resulted in Neil Gilbert, 42, from Brighton, being sentenced to six years for his “major operational role”. Gilbert was said to be head of the Sussex part of the operation, which offered cheap erectile dysfunction pills and other counterfeit medication.
The judge said the amount of money raked in by the gang was unknown but was at least £10m. More than 100 bank accounts, in the UK and abroad, had been found. Receipts from 2011 showed the gang was averaging £60,000 a week.
Gilbert was also sentenced to six years for offshore money laundering, four and half years for money laundering, 15 months for conspiracy to sell or supply a medicinal product without marketing authorisation, three years for selling or distributing counterfeit goods, 18 months for possession of counterfeit goods and 15 months for possession of medicinal drugs without marketing authorisation.
Mark Bristrow, 45, of Crayford, Kent, was sentenced to four years for money laundering, 12 months for conspiracy and two years for selling or distributing counterfeit goods.
Seth Pennington, 42, of Brighton, who was described as Gilbert’s right-hand man, was sentenced to five years and three-and-a-half years on two counts of money laundering, 16 months for possession of counterfeit goods and 14 months for conspiracy to sell or supply.
All the sentences are to run concurrently. Seven other people associated with the gang were also sentenced for offences connected with the scam.
The group used a series of front companies claiming to sell jewellery, fishing tackle and cosmetics to accept electronic payments, and laundered the proceeds through the bank accounts from 2004. They were arrested in September 2011.