Charges: Eagan wholesaler unlawfully sold $400 million worth of prescription drugs

A Minnesota-based drug wholesaler is in trouble with the law.

Two separate indictments alleged the Eagan company, Minnesota Independent Cooperative, between 2007 and April 2014, sold nearly $400 million worth of pharmaceuticals with sketchy pasts to pharmacies and other wholesalers around the country.

The indictments say the company would buy drugs at well below the wholesale price from illegal suppliers in several states, including one supplier who bought drugs from "street sources, cab drivers…"

Another case alleges the company bought $662,000 worth of asthma inhalers that were

"stolen from a tractor trailer."

According to the indictments, millions of dollars worth of the drugs bought from illegal sources would be delivered to a warehouse in Eagan, where employees would do their best to conceal the true origins of the drugs, and make sure the bottles actually had the right drugs in them. On numerous occasions, the indictment says, they got it wrong - sending pharmacies the wrong drugs.

The indictment says customers returned the drugs to the business stating "the bottles contained the wrong drug" but that the company "continued to purchase drugs from the illicit supplier."

The owner, David Miller, the vice president of operations James Russo, along with 31 others who are part of the alleged conspiracy now face a variety of charges that could result in significant prison time.