Four businessmen have been convicted in a plot to smuggle Viagra to Russian nightclub-goers with an undercover agent posing as a Russian mobster. The defense says the four may have broken some law but not the one named in the Federal indictment - conspiracy to distribute Viagra without a wholesaler's license - because one of the defendants happened to have such a license.
The Associated Press says attorney Jon Freeman pleased guilty to conspiracy and cooperated in prosecuting the other defendants - Victor Penafiel, a wholesaler; Arthur Goodman, a middleman, shipper Lachman Raichandani, and broker Matthew Scott. The four face up to five years in prison and $250,000 fines.
A Miami Beach police detective who was part of an organized crime task force probing Russian mobsters impersonated a nightclub owner known only as Vladimir, the AP says. He got together with the original five defendants to put together the $1.6 million deal. The detective let them know he was mobbed and that the 70,000 Viagra pills were destined for the black market, the AP says.
