FedEx and UPS have disclosed they are targets of a federal criminal investigation related to their dealings with online pharmacies, which are at the center of an international crackdown on prescription drug abuse, AP reported.
The shipping companies made the disclosures in regulatory filings over the last several weeks. FedEx spokesman Patrick Fitzgerald confirmed the probe in a prepared statement and a phone interview Thursday, November 15.
The investigation of the country's two largest shippers stems from a blitz against online pharmacies that was launched in 2005. Since then, dozens of arrests have been made, thousands of websites shuttered and tens of millions of dollars and pills seized worldwide as investigators continue to broaden the probe beyond the operators.
Last year, Google Inc. agreed to pay $500 million to settle allegations by the Justice Department that it profited from ads for illegal online pharmacies.
A federal jury on Thursday convicted three men of operating illegal pharmacies that used FedEx Corp. and UPS Inc. to deliver drugs without proper prescriptions. Seven others have been convicted in San Francisco this year.
Fitzgerald said he didn't know if the FedEx investigation was connected to the San Francisco cases, but U.S. Department of Justice investigators based in San Francisco are looking into issues "related to the transportation of packages for online pharmacies." He called the probe "absurd" and said the Memphis, Tenn., company denied any wrongdoing
UPS disclosed the investigation Nov. 1 in a regulatory filing reporting its quarterly earnings. FedEx was more defiant. Fitzgerald said the company has no plans to plea bargain with federal officials.
