A North Carolina woman has pleaded guilty to charges that she sold unapproved drugs on her website that claimed to be remedies and treatments for COVID-19, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
U.S. Attorney Jane E. Young said in a news release that Diana Daffin, 69, of Charlotte, North Carolina, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to selling unapproved drugs with the intent to defraud or mislead the Food and Drug Administration.
Court documents and statements made in court showed that in March 2020, the FDA learned that she was selling unapproved drugs on her website. In April and August of that year, the FDA sent Daffin warnings asking her to correct the violation.
Although she told the FDA that she removed the products from her website and would stop distributing them, she continued to do so and took steps to defraud and mislead the agency, a news release said.
In February 2021, Daffin sold an undercover law enforcement officer a product advertised as a drug that could cure, mitigate, treat, and prevent COVID-19 in humans. Daffin later sold and shipped that drug and other unapproved drugs to the undercover agent, according to prosecutors.
Daffin is scheduled for sentencing on Nov. 2.
