Ta and Srinivasan Sentenced to Decades in Prison for Fentanyl Pushing Empire

SANTA ANA, California – Two men, one from Orange County and the other from Texas, have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms for using the darknet and encrypted messaging applications to sell more than 120,000 fentanyl-laced pills and other drugs to more than 1,000 customers across the country, causing several fatal overdoses in the process.

Michael Ta, 25, of Westminster, was sentenced to 260 months (21 years and eight months) in federal prison by United States District Judge David O. Carter. At a separate hearing today, Judge Carter sentenced Rajiv Srinivasan, 37, of Houston, to 235 months (19 years and seven months) in federal prison.

Ta pleaded guilty in August 2023 to one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. Srinivasan pleaded guilty in June 2023 to the same charge and to one count of distributing fentanyl resulting in death.

Srinivasan operated the account “redlightlabs” on multiple darknet marketplaces, including the site “Dark0de.” Srinivasan and Ta used the redlightlabs account to advertise and sell counterfeit M30 oxycodone pills containing fentanyl and other illicit drugs.

Prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum, “the five victims of defendants’ crimes ranged in age from 19 to 51. They lived across the country, from California to Florida, Colorado to Arkansas. Each of the five victims leaves behind a family that has been forever and fundamentally changed by defendants’ actions. [Ta and Srinivasan] also victimized countless others as part of an epidemic of addiction and despair plaguing our district and our country.”

Also charged in the case is Omar Navia, 39, of South Los Angeles, who pleaded guilty today to one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. Navia faces a 10-year mandatory minimum prison sentence and a statutory maximum sentence of life imprisonment at his August 19 sentencing hearing.

Adan Ruiz, 27, of Garden Grove, a co-defendant in the Navia criminal case and an alleged co-conspirator with Srinivasan and Ta, has pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and one count of distribution of fentanyl. His trial is scheduled for September 24.