A New York woman who used TikTok to sell unauthorized weight-loss drugs, including products labeled Ozempic, is charged with smuggling, receiving and distributing misbranded drugs, federal prosecutors said.
Wednesday’s arrest of Isis Navarro Reyes, 36, who also went by the name Beraly Navarro and was not licensed to administer drugs, according to prosecutors, followed an investigation involving an undercover officer. Late last year, the officer texted a cell phone number she listed at the end of a TikTok video.
In the video, Ms. Reyes, of Shirley, N.Y., on Long Island, showed her viewers how to inject what she said was Ozempic and shared her experience using the drug.
In January, after exchanging messages with Ms. Reyes, the officer asked to purchase some Ozempic, a diabetes drug that has become popular for weight loss. The undercover officer sent a $375 digital payment to a Zelle account in Ms. Reyes’ name and, without showing proof of a prescription, received a package containing the product labeled Ozempic, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
Ms. Reyes’ “alleged illegal distribution of these drugs caused significant and fatal injuries to some victims and endangered all of her victims,” Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Prosecutors said in their complaint that the drugs were “manufactured, prepared, propagated, compounded and processed” outside the United States, but did not explain how they were adulterated.
Ms. Reyes obtained the drugs from Central and South America, and none of them had been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for sale or distribution in the United States, prosecutors said. The statement contained screenshots of Ms. Reyes’ TikTok videos, which showed her holding packages of the drugs, which contained labels in Spanish.
The criminal complaint follows a series of cases involving the use of unlicensed weight-loss drugs, including Ozempic. The drug came to prominence last year after causing a stir on social media, with celebrities such as tech mogul Elon Musk and TikTok influencers claiming to have taken it to lose weight in a short period of time.
The Food and Drug Administration first approved the injectable drug to treat diabetes in 2017. In 2021, the agency approved Wegovy, a drug with a higher dose of Ozempic’s active ingredient, called semaglutide, to treat obesity.
In December, the FDA said it had seized units of counterfeit Ozempic and approved that some fraudulent Ozempic products may still be on the market.
Prosecutors said Ms. Reyes had also sold drugs marketed as Mesofrance and Axcion, also promoted for weight loss, through her TikTok channel.
Last year, a woman identified by prosecutors only as Victim-1 purchased the drug represented as Mesofrance from Ms. Reyes after watching her on TikTok. She self-administered 28 injections following Ms. Reyes’ instructions and she “began to develop lesions,” prosecutors said.
Her doctor later diagnosed her with a Mycobacterium abscessus infection, which is often caused by contamination of drugs, medical products and medical devices with the bacterium, prosecutors said. Skin infected by the bacterium may be tender to the touch, swollen and painful, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Ms. Reyes was charged with crimes including bootlegging, receiving misbranded drugs in interstate commerce, and distributing misbranded drugs while for sale. The smuggling charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, prosecutors said. Her attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ms. Reyes appeared in federal court in Manhattan on Wednesday, where bail was set at $25,000 and she was ordered to surrender her passport and wear an ankle bracelet, according to court documents.
