ICE HSI counterfeit steroid trafficking, money laundering case leads to prison sentence in Massachusetts

BOSTON —- A Gloucester, Massachusetts, woman was sentenced to prison April 26 in federal court in Boston for her role in a conspiracy to traffic counterfeit steroids and launder money following charges brought from a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE)  Homeland Security Investigations(HSI)-led case.  

Melissa Sclafani, 30, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to one year and one day in prison and two years of supervised release. Sclafani pleaded guilty in June, 2017 to one count of conspiracy with intent to distribute and to distribute counterfeit steroids and one count of conspiracy to launder money, in the case which was prosecuted by the Office of  United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling.

HSI Boston identified a counterfeit steroid organization run by Sclafani and others operating since at least early 2016 which smuggled raw steroid from China/Hong Kong into the United States and manufactured injectable anabolic steroids which were advertised and sold over social media sites, fitness blogs, and email as “Onyx Pharmaceuticals”. The steroids were marketed and sold with counterfeit labeling, holograms and branding and distributed all over the United States.

As a result of the investigation, six federal arrest warrants and five federal search warrants were executed which yielded 9 kilograms of raw powder steroids, over 35,000 units of finished steroid units, laboratory production equipment, 14,000 fraudulent branding labels and boxes and more than $500,000 dollars in cash. The investigation was led by agents from HSI-Boston and was assisted by team members from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigation, New York Field Office.