Darknet Xanax Kingpin Gets 24 Months for Selling Millions of Counterfeit Pills

A Missouri man was sentenced to 24 months in prison for running a lucrative operation that sold millions of counterfeit Xanax pills on the Darknet.

Brandon Adams, 27, of Sullivan, Missouri, pleaded guilty in September to three felony counts: conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance via the internet, conspiracy to sell misbranded/counterfeit drugs and selling counterfeit drugs.

According to the plea agreement, Adams sold millions of counterfeit and/or misbranded pills on the Darknet using the name “BenzoBoys” between at least October 2019 and May 2021. The pills, which primarily included counterfeit Xanax and its generic equivalents, were designed to deceive or confuse buyers with imprints and colors substantially indistinguishable from those used by pharmaceutical companies.

Adams maintained a manufacturing operation at a secluded lake house outside Sullivan, where he used a pill press to produce the fake pills. Customers placed orders using an encrypted messaging service and paid with cryptocurrency. Adams would then mail the pills or place them at “dead drop” sites for customers to pick up.

After investigators made undercover purchases from Adams, they conducted a court-approved search of his apartment in Sullivan and the lake house. They found the pill press, tens of thousands of misbranded pills, bags labeled alprazolam and clonazolam, about $630,000 in cash, and two rifles at his apartment. The authorities also seized about $330,000 in Bitcoin.

Adams has agreed to forfeit the gun, cash, and Bitcoin. He will also be on supervised release for three years after he gets out of prison.

“Brandon Adams was one of the most prolific manufacturers and distributors of counterfeit Xanax pills in the United States,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Chris Crocker of the FBI St. Louis Division. “Counterfeit pills often contain unknown substances and pose a huge risk to consumer health because they evade regulatory oversight.”

The pervasiveness of these fake pills is a problem that cuts to the core of Missourians and the American public,” said Assistant Special Agent in Charge Joseph Dixon of the Drug Enforcement Administration St. Louis Division. “DEA remains steadfast in its commitment to dismantle and destroy these types of enterprises that hide in the shadows and operate in the dark corners of the web. I urge people to talk to their loved ones about the threats and dangers of fake pills.”