Online Colored Contact Lens Business Pleads Guilty in Largest-Ever Counterfeit and Misbranded Contact Lenses Investigation

The owner of Candy Color Lenses recently pleaded guilty to importing counterfeit and misbranded contact lenses from suppliers in Asia and then selling them without prescriptions to tens of thousands of U.S. buyers without a prescription, according to a US Department of Justice (DOJ) press release.

The owner of the major contact lens seller, Dmitriy V. Melnik of Las Vegas, pleaded guilty to one count of “conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods and to introduce interstate commerce misbranded devices,” according to the release.

According to the DOJ release, the plea agreement states that Melnik imported lenses he knew were counterfeit or unauthorized by the FDA from China and South Korea. The misbranded lenses included the use of trademarks like Ciba Vision’s Freshlook COLORBLENDS. 

Contact lenses are considered medial devices and cannot be sold without proof of prescription.

Melnik admitted that several tested contact lenses revealed potentially hazardous bacteria, according to the release.

The release states that the plea agreement reveals that Melnik made $1.2 in gross revenue from these illegal activities.

The resulting prosecution was the result of a multiagency effort called “Operation Double Vision,” intended to combat the import of unapproved contact lenses. Included in the effort were the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security department.

(See “U.S. House Bill Introduced to Curb Illegal Online Contact Sales” in this edition for more on this topic.)