MIAMI – March 16, 2026 – Two Maryland brothers who owned and operated a pharmaceutical wholesale company were each sentenced to lengthy prison terms on Friday for orchestrating a sprawling $92 million black-market scheme that distributed tainted and mislabeled HIV medication to unsuspecting pharmacies and patients across the United States.
Patrick Boyd, 47, and Charles Boyd, 43, of Easton, Maryland, were handed down sentences of 18 and 20 years, respectively, for their roles in the conspiracy, which prosecutors say endangered some of the most vulnerable patients and corrupted the nation’s prescription drug supply chain.
The brothers, who founded and ran Safe Chain Solutions, were convicted in October 2025 on multiple federal charges, including conspiracy to traffic in medical products with false documentation and wire fraud. According to court documents and trial testimony, the scheme ran from April 2020 to September 2021 and involved the purchase and resale of more than 28,000 bottles of HIV medication acquired from black-market suppliers.
Prosecutors detailed a disturbing pipeline for the drugs, which were often obtained directly from HIV patients in so-called “buyback schemes.” One supplier testified that he would purchase the medication from patients on the street, remove the original prescription labels, and repackage the bottles in whatever boxes he could find—including, on one occasion, a discarded diaper box. The bottles themselves were often dirty, unsealed, and showed clear signs of prior use.
The tainted medication was then sold to pharmacies across the country, complete with falsified paperwork designed to evade detection by regulators and customers. The danger to patients was immediate and severe.
A jury heard testimony from an HIV patient who received a bottle of what was supposed to be his prescribed HIV medication, only to find it contained Seroquel, an anti-psychotic drug. The man testified that he unknowingly ingested the drug and lost consciousness for 24 hours.
In another documented complaint, a pharmacy customer sent the Boyd brothers a photograph showing the poor condition of the received medication, warning that the bottles did not meet “safety standards . . . and may present risk for our patients.” The drugs were returned, but despite such complaints dating back to August 2020, the brothers continued purchasing from the same illicit suppliers.
The scheme not only put patients at risk but also defrauded taxpayer-funded health programs. Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial insurers were billed and paid for the illicit drugs, which the Boyds purchased for more than $92.8 million and resold at a profit.
“Patrick and Charles Boyd did not just commit fraud and cost taxpayers millions of dollars, they preyed upon some of the most vulnerable members of our society: HIV patients who depend on life-saving treatments to manage their disease,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division in a statement following the sentencing.
U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida, whose office prosecuted the case, emphasized the real-world consequences of the brothers’ greed. “They bought drugs off the street from black-market suppliers, shipped them in dirty boxes and discarded packaging, falsified paperwork, and pushed those medications back into the legitimate pharmaceutical supply chain,” he said. “The consequences were real. HIV patients received bottles containing the wrong drugs, and at least one patient lost consciousness after ingesting medication that should never have been in that bottle.”
Trial evidence showed the brothers took elaborate steps to conceal their scheme, including working with suppliers behind the back of their own Director of Compliance, who testified her concerns were repeatedly ignored. They also allegedly misled attorneys they consulted about their reporting obligations to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), failing to report numerous incidents involving incorrect or tampered medications.
A third defendant, Adam Brosius, who pleaded guilty for his role in the conspiracy, was previously sentenced to 97 months in prison.
In addition to their prison terms, the Boyd brothers were ordered to pay $21.85 million in forfeiture.
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