Man sentenced to 6 years in prison for peddling fake cures

A dual citizen from Pakistan and the United Kingdom has been sentenced to six years in federal prison for selling drugs that he falsely claimed would cure illnesses including Alzheimer's disease and emphysema.

Through more than 1,500 websites, 37-year-old Mustafa Hasan Arif generated more than $12.8 million in fraudulent sales to more than 100,000 victims around the world.

According to court documents, the websites claimed his drugs would cure and treat hundreds of diseases, many of which were incurable, and included falsified cure rates, false clinical research and fabricated testimonials.

After he was sentenced on Tuesday, acting United States Attorney John J. Farley called Arif's conduct "reprehensible" and accused him of preying on "vulnerable individuals who were seeking to find cures for illnesses that often had no known cure."