Spa owner accused of performing thousands of fake Botox injections

A Massachusetts spa owner is in hot water for allegedly injecting her clients with counterfeit Botox and other cosmetic products. On Friday, federal officials arrested 38-year-old Rebecca Fadanelli and charged her with several charges in connection with the alleged scam.

According to the charging documents Fadanelli, disclosed Friday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, had been carrying out this alleged scheme since March 2021. She is accused of importing counterfeit Botox, Sculptra and Juvederm (the latter two products are dermal fillers) from China and Brazil and using these products in thousands of injections at the two spa locations she owns in Randolph and South Easton, Massachusetts.

Officials say she completed more than 1,600 Botox appointments and more than 1,000 filler appointments with these counterfeit products between March 2021 and March 2024. Prosecutors say Fadanelli paid a total of more than $900,000 for the injections. Additionally, she is accused of lying to clients and her employees about her credentials, allegedly claiming she was a nurse when she was only licensed as an esthetician. She also reportedly told prosecutors that she never injected customers herself, but other employees reportedly said otherwise.

“For years, Ms. Fadanelli allegedly endangered unsuspecting patients by posing as a nurse and then administering thousands of illegal, counterfeit injections,” Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy said in a statement. statement of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts. “The type of deception alleged here is illegal, reckless and potentially life-threatening.”

Fadanelli has been formally charged with one count of illegally importing merchandise contrary to law, one count of selling or dispensing a counterfeit drug, and one count of selling or dispensing a counterfeit device. She was arrested and made her first appearance in federal court on Friday.

Botox is routinely used to safely reduce wrinkles and treat other medical conditions, such as chronic migraines. While it’s possible that Fadanelli’s customers have avoided harm from her products, counterfeit Botox can certainly be a dangerous gamble. Earlier this April, the Food and Drug Administration said warned the public that it had received recent reports of the discovery and use of unsafe counterfeit Botox in several states. People injected with these products reportedly developed symptoms shortly afterwards, including blurred or double vision, difficulty swallowing, dry mouth, constipation, incontinence and weakness, some of which required hospitalization.

“Drugs purchased from unlicensed sources may be misbranded, adulterated, counterfeit, contaminated, improperly stored and transported, ineffective and/or unsafe,” the FDA noted.

Federal prosecutors are asking people who believe they have received fake injections from Fadanelli or at her spas since 2021 to contact them and fill out a questionnaire linked on the FDA’s website here.