On April 20, 2005, Corinna Mehrer, a Costa Rican national, was arrested for using internet pharmacies to dispense controlled substances to customers nationwide without a medical prescription or evaluation; over 15 million illegal pharmaceutical pills were also seized.

The investigation leading to the charges and arrests announced were conducted by the DEA Long Island Office and the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force.

According to government filings on the case in the Eastern District of New York, Mehrer owned "internationalpharmacy.com" (IP) that controlled and operated approximately 60 websites that illegally distributed prescription drugs to thousands of Americans weekly, grossing more than $55 million USD in profits over a 10-month period; IP's gross sales in just one day would total nearly $940,000 USD.  The indictment charged that the proceeds of the pharmaceutical sales were laundered through seemingly legitimate businesses and by wire-transfers to domestic and off-shore bank accounts under Mehrer's control.

Mehrer faced a mandatory minimum of 20 years' imprisonment to a maximum of life imprisonment, and a $2 million USD fine.  IP received a maximum fine of $5 million USD.  In addition, the indictment sought a forfeiture money judgment against all defendants totaling $64.7 million USD, for which the defendants were jointly and severally liable. (1)

On December 12, 2005, Mehrer was sentenced to 144 months in Federal prison in the U.S., and on March 2, 2006, Corinna Mehrer BOP Register Number 72966-053 was successfully treaty transferred back to Costa Rica. (2)