Doctor Who Sold Fake Botox Is Sentenced
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - An Arizona doctor was sentenced to nearly two years in prison Thursday for selling a dangerous bootleg form of Botox to hundreds of physicians.
The scheme was discovered during an investigation into four near fatal-poisonings that landed another doctor in prison.
"This was all a big mistake, which I so sincerely wish I could undo, but I can't," said Dr. Zahra Karim, 34.
Her husband, Dr. Chad Livdahl, also 34, awaited sentencing later Thursday for his part in the plot.
The couple pleaded guilty in November to fraud and conspiracy stemming from the shipments of botulism toxin to more than 200 doctors around the country. Investigators said the couple made more than $1.7 million in less than two years.
The knockoff wrinkle-remover was used on about 1,000 patients, most of whom thought they were getting the brand-name Botox made by Allergan Inc., according to court documents.
Karim was sentenced to almost six years but will be transferred to her homeland of Canada after about 21 months and then released, according to her plea bargain. U.S. District Judge James Cohn also ordered her to pay more than $345,000 in restitution.
On Wednesday, a Fort Lauderdale physician, Dr. Bach McComb, was sentenced to three years behind bars for injecting himself and three others with knockoff Botox that had not been properly diluted, causing botulism poisoning and nearly killing all four of them.
The investigation of that case led federal investigators to one of McComb's suppliers, a company owned by Karim and Livdahl.
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