A 45-year-old Indian national has been sentenced to 43 months in federal prison for his involvement in selling counterfeit cancer drugs in the United States. Sanjay Kumar pleaded guilty on October 30, 2025, to conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods. The sentencing was announced by U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.
U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal imposed the sentence and also ordered Kumar to serve a one-year term of supervised release after his prison term. In addition, Kumar must pay a $58,823 money judgment. Judge Rosenthal described Kumar’s actions as particularly cruel, noting that he intentionally marketed fake drugs to people seeking life-extending treatment and instead provided them with “junk.”
“When a patient takes a drug to treat a medical condition, they expect it to be legitimate, effective, and safe. When victims are instead sold worthless counterfeit medicine, it undermines not only their own health outcomes, but also public confidence in the American medical system as a whole,” said Ganjei. “The conduct in this case was particularly depraved because Kumar was selling false hope to those battling cancer, knowing full well his fugazi drugs would do nothing to help against this life-threatening disease. The Southern District of Texas will find and punish any person who, like Sanjay Kumar, attempts to make a quick buck by endangering patients’ lives.”
From August 2018 through June 2024, Kumar and others arranged sales of counterfeit versions of Keytruda—a cancer drug—worth tens of thousands of dollars. Keytruda is an FDA-approved immunotherapy used for treating various cancers including melanoma and Hodgkin lymphoma.
Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC holds exclusive rights for manufacturing and distributing genuine Keytruda. The counterfeit medication sold by Kumar did not contain the active ingredient necessary for its intended use and closely resembled packaging registered under Merck’s trademarks.
During an undercover operation, Kumar attempted further sales of fake Keytruda and admitted he knew the drugs were ineffective against cancer, describing them as “just like water.” He received approximately $89,268 from these transactions.
Kumar remains in custody pending transfer to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility.
The investigation was conducted by ICE-HSI with assistance from the FDA. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Hileman prosecuted the case along with Trial Attorneys Ethan Cantor, Bryce Rosenbower and Jeff Pearlman from the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section.
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas is part of the U.S. Department of Justice and serves under the Attorney General (official website). This office employs more than 200 attorneys across Houston, Galveston, Corpus Christi, Laredo, McAllen and Brownsville (official website), covering 43 counties with over nine million residents (official website). Its focus includes prosecuting federal crimes such as those involving counterfeit pharmaceuticals (official website). Notable former leaders include Alamdar Hamdani (2022–2025) and Ryan Patrick (official history page).
