Woman accused of raking in nearly $1 million by injecting medspa clients with fake Botox

Rebecca Fadanelli paid $50 a vial for the bogus meds, which normally cost $650, according to a federal complaint unsealed Friday

Counterfeit Botox, seen here in an FDA warning (FDA)

An aesthetician in suburban Boston is accused of injecting thousands of vials of counterfeit Botox into unsuspecting clients’ faces for three-plus years, buying the bogus medication online.

Rebecca Fadanelli, who falsely claimed to be a nurse with a degree in anatomy from “Havard [sic],” paid $50 for each vial of fake Botox she ordered from the Chinese e-commerce platform Alibaba.com, compared to $650 a vial for the real thing, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Friday. It says Fadanelli also administered knockoff Sculptra and Juvederm, bringing in nearly $1 million before she was arrested on federal charges that could land the 38-year-old in prison for decades.

Fadanelli, whose Skin Beaute Med Spa has locations in Randolph and South Easton, Massachusetts, was finally caught when a patient became suspicious following a botched procedure and contacted the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to the complaint.

“Individuals who dispense and administer counterfeit injectable cosmetic drugs… put the health of unsuspecting American consumers at significant risk,” Special Agent in Charge Fernando McMillan of the FDA Office of Criminal Investigations said in a statement. “We will continue to pursue and bring to justice those who choose to subvert the safeguards of the legitimate drug and device regulatory regime and supply chain and jeopardize the public health.”

Tom O’Connor, a court-appointed lawyer representing Fadanelli, did not immediately respond to The Independent’s request for comment.

Rebecca Fadanelli claimed to be a nurse with a degree in anatomy from “Havard [sic]” (Getty Images)

In September 2022, a woman identified in the complaint only as “Client 1” showed up at Skin Beaute’s office in Randolph for a lip filler treatment, according to the complaint. Fadanelli injected Client 1’s lips “with an unknown substance,” and evaded questions about what it was, saying only that she “purchases her products from Brazil and China,” the complaint states.

“After injecting Client 1’s lips, Fadanelli also injected Client 1 between her eyebrows using the same syringe, reportedly without Client 1’s permission,” the complaint goes on. “At some point after the procedure, Client 1 experienced ‘bumps’ in her lips and tingling in her forehead where Fadanelli had injected her.”

Unnerved, Client 1 contacted Fadanelli and asked her for a copy of the prescription for the lip filler, but Fadanelli refused, the complaint alleges. So, Client 1 “conducted online research and found information indicating that Fadanelli was not a registered nurse and may not have been certified to conduct the procedure” she had performed on her, according to the complaint.

The client got in touch with the FDA, which launched an investigation, the complaint states. It says a parallel investigation was opened by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and its investigative arm, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in response to at least half a dozen parcels from China addressed to Fadanelli or her employees.

Rebecca Fadanelli’s shipments from China left an extensive paper trail investigators used to connect the dots (AFP via Getty Images)

All of the packages contained prescription drugs labeled as Botox, Sculptra, and Juvederm. However, when investigators contacted the manufacturers of those products, they confirmed they were counterfeit, according to the complaint.

In October 2023, upon Fadanelli’s return home from a trip to Brazil, she was stopped for inspection by CBP officers at Logan International Airport. They discovered she was carrying “a variety of prescription drugs and devices, including several vials of liquid labeled as Sculptra and vials of bacteriostatic water (sterile water used to inject diluted or dissolved medication into a patient’s body), in addition to several other vials of liquid with labels in foreign languages,” and some 50 Ozempic pens, the complaint says, adding that all were “misbranded or unapproved.”

The feds sent an undercover operative in April to Skin Beaute, who made an appointment for a Botox consultation with Fadanelli, who quoted her a price of $450 per treatment, according to the complaint. Fadanelli assured the operative that she used only authentic Botox, and that results lasted up to four months, the complaint states.

Rebecca Fadanelli allegedly sourced bogus meds on Alibaba.com, where the fakes were far cheaper than the real thing (Getty Images)

On June 28, federal agents executed a search warrant at both of Skin Beaute locations and intercepted Fadanelli pulling up in a Range Rover to the Randolph office, the complaint says. She was carrying several bags loaded with counterfeit Sculptra, Juvederm and Restylane, along with 16 empty vials of fake Botox and “various unlabeled vials and foreign-labeled drugs,” according to the complaint. They seized more of the same throughout Fadanelli’s offices, as well as digital files and patient records that show Fadanelli was performing the injections herself, the complaint says.

Fadanelli sourced the phony drugs on Alibaba “because they were cheaper,” a former employee told the feds. They were shipped to her home, employees’ homes, or a clothing store owned by Fadanelli, who then brought the injectables to the office in, alternately, a silver briefcase or a lunchbox, the employee said.

Under questioning by investigators, Fadanelli insisted such services were “provided only by a certified nurse (not Fadanelli) employed by Skin Beaute Med Spa,” the complaint alleges.

“According to Fadanelli, the nurse most recently employed had left several months prior, and Skin Beaute Med Spa had not yet hired a new nurse,” the complaint states.

However, her story fell apart further when the feds learned a client present at the Randolph office when they descended on the place “was scheduled to receive filler injections from Fadanelli,” according to the complaint.

Fadanelli is charged with knowingly selling or dispensing a counterfeit drug or counterfeit device, and importing merchandise contrary to law. If convicted, she faces a combined sentence of up to 30 years in prison.