New Yorker convicted of importing illegal controlled substances from India

Ezhil Sezhian Kamaldoss, from Queens in New York, faces up to 50 years of imprisonment.

“The defendant is now a convicted drug dealer. He lined his pockets off the black-market sales of millions of illegal opioids and misbranded prescription pills without regard for the harm caused by the abuse of these highly addictive and dangerous drugs,” United States Attorney Breon Peace stated.

“With today’s verdict, the defendant is held accountable for having a hand in every aspect of his pill mill, from the importing of unapproved medications from India to personally filling orders for these drugs for customers throughout the country,” he said.

According to federal prosecutors, between May 2018 and August 2019, Kamaldoss participated with others in a transnational drug-trafficking conspiracy, which involved the importation of misbranded prescription drugs, including Tramadol, a synthetic opioid, into the US from India, repackaging the drugs at a pill mill operating out of a warehouse in Jamaica, Queens, and shipping the drugs via the United States mail to customers throughout the US.

During the course of the charged conspiracy, Kamaldoss and the men who worked for him distributed millions of Tramadol pills, sometimes purchasing hundreds of thousands of pills at a time.

Additionally, Kamaldoss conspired to launder the proceeds of the drug-trafficking operation by using the illicit profits to reinvest in the business, including by paying shipping costs incurred by his co-conspirators — including nearly $200,000 in Federal Express costs paid off in exchange for additional pills, it said.