September 10 2012 LOS ANGELES – LawFuel.com – US Law News – A Santa Fe Springs company that bills itself as a “global distributor of the finest raw ingredients” and its president pleaded guilty today to federal charges related to the illegal distribution of human growth hormone.
DNP international Company, Inc. pleaded guilty to three counts, including a felony charge for the illegal wholesale distribution of a prescription drug and two misdemeanor charges for the unlawful distribution of an unapproved new drug in interstate commerce.
DNP’s owner, David Ji, 50, of Irvine, pleaded guilty to a felony count of distributing prescription drugs in interstate commerce without the proper license from the State of California. When he pleaded guilty today, Ji admitted that his company had distributed an unapproved drug containing somatropin – a human growth hormone product – which had not been approved for distribution in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration because the version of the drug being distributed by DNP was manufactured in China.
“The FDA drug-approval process is designed to create a closed system for drug distribution in this country,” said Francis W. Allan, Acting Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations, Los Angeles Field Office. “The purpose of this closed system is to prevent unsafe, ineffective and otherwise harmful drugs from entering the supply chain and reaching consumers who otherwise have no way to ensure their quality and efficacy. The FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations is fully committed to investigating and supporting the prosecution of those who endanger the public health by knowingly subverting that system for personal profit.”
DNP and Ji pleaded guilty this morning before United States District Judge Geroge H. King, who scheduled a sentencing hearing for December 10. At sentencing, Ji faces a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. DNP faces a maximum statutory sentence of five years of probation and a $900,000 fine.
This case was investigated the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations, Los Angeles Field Office, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

CONTACT: Assistant United States Attorney Dennis Mitchell
Environmental Crimes Section
(213) 894-2484