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DOJ indicts two Indian nationals over counterfeit Ozempic sold to U.S. distributors

An indictment announced September 29, 2026 in the Middle District of Florida alleges the pair bought fake Ozempic from unapproved Chinese suppliers between July 2023 and April 2024. An indictment is an allegation; no verdict has been reached.

Published October 5, 2026 · Twenty Residues editorial

In the catalogSemaglutide

What the record establishes

  • DOJ announced charges September 29, 2026 against Swapnadip Roy, 33, and Vicky Ramancha, 37, both Indian nationals: one count of conspiracy to commit smuggling and to defraud the United States, three counts of smuggling, and two counts of selling counterfeit drugs and holding counterfeit drugs for sale.
  • The indictment alleges they obtained counterfeit Ozempic from unauthorized sources in China between July 2023 and April 2024, with fake boxes, inserts, pen labels, and needles, and sold it at reduced prices to distributors in the United States.
  • DOJ and FDA both state the alleged conduct continued after FDA's December 2023 seizure of counterfeit Ozempic and public warning.
  • DOJ states the maximum penalty is 71 years in prison per defendant, and that an indictment is only an allegation and the defendants are presumed innocent.

What it does not establish

  • No court has found anything. The release does not report a trial, plea, or verdict.
  • The releases do not say what the counterfeit pens contained, or that anyone was injured by them. The officials' statements about threats to health are the officials' characterizations, not a stated test result.
  • The case concerns counterfeit versions of a branded, approved product. It does not address research-use peptides or compounded semaglutide, and should not be read as evidence about either, in either direction.
  • Neither release states how much counterfeit product reached patients or how many distributors were involved.

What would change this

The indictment itself or later filings (lab analysis of seized pens, a plea agreement, a superseding indictment naming co-conspirators), or a verdict.

The open question

The alleged fakes copied the packaging of an approved drug. When a counterfeit and a grey-market copy both depend on trusting an unverified label, where does one category end and the other begin?

We don't answer this one. Take it to wherever you argue about peptides, and send us the strongest case from either side.

Propose a question by emailor on the public record

Sources

  1. [1]
  2. [2]
  3. [3]

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