Seattle – Two brothers from India were each sentenced to 30 months in prison for their scheme to sell counterfeit Keytruda and other drugs, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller.
Avanish Kumar Jha, 39, and Rajnish Kumar Jha, 36, were arrested in Singapore on April 20, 2023, based on the 2022 indictment. The men were extradited to the U.S. in February 2025.
U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez emphasized the gravity of their crime during the sentencing hearing: “The issue here is the introduction of adulterated drugs to people who think they are getting lifesaving drugs… This activity has so much risk to cause harm.”
Acting U.S. Attorney Miller described how the Jha brothers’ scheme began: “When this investigation began, the first vial of medicine shipped to the undercover agent was not the cancer-fighting drug Keytruda at all but rather over-the-counter heartburn medicine in a bottle labeled as Keytruda.”
The investigation, which started in 2019, revealed that the brothers’ company, Dhrishti Pharma International, offered to sell prescription drugs online. They sold counterfeit Keytruda with no active ingredient and other contaminated products.
In January 2025, a Singapore judge ruled the men could be extradited to the U.S., where they entered guilty pleas in June. Assistant United States Attorney Philip Kopczynski argued for the 30-month sentence, highlighting the cruelty of their actions: “Exporting counterfeit medicines is a cruel business that robs ill people of any hope for relief.”
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Key Facts
- State: Washington
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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