BOSTON (WBZ) – A Massachusetts woman is accused of performing thousands of illegal counterfeit Botox and filler injections over the past three years.
Rebecca Fadanelli, 38, was arrested Friday morning and appeared in court in Worcester.
Fadanelli presented herself as a nurse to her clients at Skin Beaute Med Spa.
However, the Feds said since March 2021, the esthetician was not licensed or certified when she gave thousands of illegal counterfeit Botox, Sculptra, and Juvederm injections which she imported from China and Brazil.
Prosecutors say clients paid her over $900,000.
Charging documents said FDA criminal investigators were tipped off by a client who had a bad reaction with bumps in her lips and tingling after Fadanelli injected her with lip filler in 2022.
The client never received a copy of the prescription for the substance that was injected into her despite asking for it.
Agents then found out Homeland Security Investigations was looking into Fadanelli.
Customs and Border Patrol had seized international parcels shipped to her because they were suspicious the packages had illegal prescription drugs.
Agents say Fadanelli was also caught at Logan Airport coming back from Brazil with illegal injectables.
When the feds searched the spa locations in Randolph, Massachusetts, and South Easton, Massachusetts, they said they found the fake cosmetics.
Fadanelli later admitted to the Feds she buys the injectable drugs from a Chinese supplier through Alibaba but didn’t know if they were FDA-approved.
In court on Friday, Fadanelli did not enter a plea.
She faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $ 250,000 for the charge of importing merchandise contrary to law.
She also faces up to 10 years in prison and another fine of $250,000 for charges of knowingly selling or dispensing a counterfeit drug or device.
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