According to officials, a woman from Massachusetts posed as a nurse and administered thousands of doses of fake Botox and other fillers that had been illegally brought into the country.
According to prosecutors, Rebecca Fadanelli, 38, of Stoughton, will appear before a federal judge in Worcester on November 14 to answer to charges of illegally importing the pharmaceuticals, dispensing a counterfeit drug, and selling or dispensing a counterfeit device.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Massachusetts claimed in a statement that Fadanelli, who runs Skin Beauté Med Spa with facilities in Randolph and South Easton, provided phony Botox, Sculptra, and Juvederm that she imported from China and Brazil.
According to federal prosecutors, Fadanelli “completed approximately 1,631 Botox appointments, totaling $522,869 in client payments, and 1,085 filler appointments, totaling $410,545 in client payments,” since March 2021.
Prosecutors said Fadanelli never claimed to be a nurse and did not make the injections in an interview with agents.
As per Brian Hendricks, a special agent for the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations, “Fadanelli further stated that she is not a nurse and claimed that she does not administer injectable drugs or devices to Skin Beaute Med Spa’s clients,” said the affidavit.
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“When agents asked Fadanelli if she would like to retract or modify that claim if she knew there was evidence showing that she was in fact administering such products, she reiterated that she does not administer injections,” according to the affidavit.
In June, a warning about “harmful reactions among people who received injections of counterfeit or mishandled” Botox was released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to the CDC, from November of last year to April, there were cases in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, and Texas that resulted in a variety of health issues, including breathing problems, slurred speech, and blurred vision.
