
The baby formula crime ring - ramgorur
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/05/02/magazine/money-issue-baby-formula-crime-ring.html
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paulcole
Forget about counterfeits, just imagine how much of the 3rd-party stuff sold
on Amazon must be stolen.

Here in Portland there was a recent bust of a lego theft ring. You have to
wonder how much of this ends up on Amazon or ebay:

[http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2018/04/se_port...](http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2018/04/se_portland_man_schemed_lego_t.html)

~~~
toomuchtodo
About two years ago, when our first child needed formula, we briefly
considered buying from Amazon until we read about the
comingling/counterfeiting issue. We decided to buy from Whole Foods instead
(funny enough with the Amazon purchase recently). We wanted someplace where we
trusted the supply chain, and that wasn’t Amazon. Now we use Costco (we pay
for our membership, but piggyback off a family member’s prime membership
although we’ve phased out almost all Amazon purchases for Costco, Target, or
Wal Mart).

I would not trust Amazon for anything that you’re going to consume. You can’t
trust who supplied it, and I have a great deal of skepticism that you’d be
able to hold someone accountable if there was a health issue from consumption
of a counterfeit product.

~~~
dangrover
I am a bit confused, When you buy from Amazon, isn’t there an explicit
indication whether you are buying from Amazon itself vs “marketplace” seller?
Shouldn’t stuff direct from Amazon be legit?

~~~
iends
No, Amazon mixes inventory. You should not trust Amazon with anything that is
expensive or you put into your body. A product gets high ratings and is
successful, then counterfeiters flood the market with a fake product that you
end up inadvertently buying.

A recent example is Eclipse glasses that were purchased on Amazon. Since the
inventory was co-mingled and Amazon doesn't have the time or expertise they
refunded most purchases of the glasses both from legitimate and illegitimate
sellers.

~~~
gambiting
I believe this is only the case in US. If you're buying from Amazon in EU the
stock advertised as "sold by Amazon" is actually their own stock.

~~~
derda
Do you have a source for that? I tried finding an answer to this a while ago
and was left a little unsure in the end.

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nasredin
Just a few manufacturers, consumers that don't have choices, astronomical
prices...

Where have I seen this before?!

I wish a proper writer wrote about this. The Times one is terrible.

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nl
I had assumed this was going to be something to do with the Chinese daigou
buying agents in Australia.

I was stuck in a pharmacy the other night behind 7 Chinese guys, all buying 4
cans of formula each (the limit), all sharing the same card.

I don’t think that is illegal exactly, but wow it’s annoying.

[https://www.sbs.com.au/news/australian-companies-still-
need-...](https://www.sbs.com.au/news/australian-companies-still-need-chinese-
daigou-buying-agents)

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ctack
I found the way they basically had to entrap her in the end to be a bit
disconcerting. To have one of her suppliers introduce her to an undercover
agent who is acting as a dodgy supplier and then wait for her accept the deal
of a lifetime.

It's a staged deal and she accepts it. It's like being found guilty of thought
crime.

~~~
tadfisher
That's not what entrapment is. She had every chance to walk away, and on
multiple occasions willfully ignored the answers to her questions about the
source of the property.

Police are very good at avoiding entrapment, and this woman knowingly
committed a crime. An example of actual entrapment would involve the
undercover agent threatening to commit violence or even to report her to
authorities unless she went through with the deal.

[http://lawcomic.net/guide/?p=633](http://lawcomic.net/guide/?p=633)

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mavelikara
The linked article says this about Alicia Tondreau-Leve:

    
    
        When Dattadeen and Tondreau-Leve were still close, Tondreau-Leve 
        often spoke to her of her anger at losing the home she and her 
        husband had owned in Massachusetts — a stately four-bedroom 
        Colonial on an acre of land. Visiting from Florida, while Alan was 
        still living there, she found it so upsetting to be in the house, 
        which she knew by then that they would lose, that she sometimes 
        preferred to spend time in a rented R.V. Formula Mom became a means 
        of redemption and reinvention. 
    

I found the following comment by Florida attorney general Pam Bondi
disconcerting (Alicia Tondreau-Leve was sentenced to 20 years in prison):

    
    
        The Leves’ sentences struck me as severe, and I asked Pam Bondi, 
        the Florida attorney general, if she agreed. “I wish she’d been 
        locked up for as long as humanly possible for what she did,” she 
        said of Tondreau-Leve. “Had she used her wits to start a legit 
        business, she could have been incredibly successful — a true 
        entrepreneur.”
    

But if that were Pam Bondi's wish, wonder why she offered a plea deal before
the case went to trial:

    
    
        Before trial, the prosecutors presented a deal that would have meant much less 
        prison time for Alicia and mere probation for Alan.
        

Also, this is the same Pam Bondi who in 2013 [1]:

    
    
        Bondi has been criticized for election fundraising activities, 
        including questions raised about contributions from Donald Trump 
        and his associates. The Florida Attorney General's office received 
        at least 22 fraud complaints about Trump University. In 2013 a 
        spokesperson for Bondi announced her office was considering joining 
        a lawsuit initiated by New York's Attorney General against Trump 
        regarding tax fraud. Four days later 'And Justice for All', a PAC 
        that supported Bondi's re-election campaign received a $25,000 
        donation from the Donald J. Trump Foundation, after which Bondi 
        declined to join the lawsuit against Trump University.
        
        

[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pam_Bondi#Controversies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pam_Bondi#Controversies)

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adamzk
If the formula ingredients are so cheap why not just buy each of the
components in bulk and mix your own? The components are all listed on the
packaging and can't be that difficult to obtain in bulk and good quality. The
relative quantities I'm sure are proprietary but could easily be estimated
from information available in pediatric nutritional literature (maybe
paywalled but worth the investment).

