Owner of South Shore spas accused of injecting clients with counterfeit Botox
Owner of South Shore spas accused of injecting clients with counterfeit Botox
    Posted on 11/04/2024
The owner of spas in Randolph and South Easton is accused of earning nearly $1 million by injecting clients with counterfeit Botox and fillers, according to federal charges filed this weekend.

Rebecca Fadanelli, 38, is charged with one count of illegally importing merchandise contrary to law, one count of selling or dispensing a counterfeit drug, and one count of selling or dispensing a counterfeit device, Acting U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Joshua S. Levy announced.

Fadanelli, who owns Skin Beaute Med Spa, was arrested Friday and will appear in federal court in Worcester on Wednesday.

Fadanelli, of Stoughton, has been purchasing counterfeit Botox, Sculptra, and Juvederm from China and Brazil since 2021, prosecutors say. Through March of this year, Fadanelli injected Botox at 1,631 appointments for a total of $522,869 and injected fillers at 1,085 appointments for a total of $410,545.

Levy also alleges that Fadanelli has been “consistently representing” to her clients and staff that she is a nurse, but she is actually a registered aesthetician and not licensed or certified to administer the drugs. According to court records, Fadanelli allegedly told investigators that she wasn’t injecting clients, while her employee said she was.

“The type of deception alleged here is illegal, reckless and potentially life-threatening,” Levy said in a statement. “Today’s arrest underscores our commitment to protecting the public from fraudulent and dangerous practices in the medical and cosmetic fields.”

A former employee told federal prosecutors that Fadanelli purchased the Botox from Chinese-owned online marketplace Alibaba, which charged $50 for a vial. (An authentic vial of Botox is about $650, the charging documents say.)

The importing charge carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000. The other two charges carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000 each.
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