Couple Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for Selling Counterfeit 5-Hour Energy Drinks

In the future, Machiavellian crime lords won't be counterfeiting cold, hard cash or priceless artwork, but instead a corner store's bounty in knockoff energy drinks.

A California couple were recently convicted of criminal conspiracy by a federal court in San Diego. Their monstrous crime? Masterminding the nefarious production of millions of counterfeit bottles of 5-Hour Energy shots.

And who knows? You may have purchased and imbibed one of those shadowy, bootleg energy shots, produced in unsanitary conditions as part of a massive, nationwide conspiracy.

The scheme began back in 2009, when Joseph and Adriana Shayota were legally contracted to sell 5-Hour Energy drinks in Mexico. Soon thereafter, though, they began altering the Spanish-language packaging; then, they began to sell the stuff with fake English-language labels back in the US.

That's when things got truly heinous: The couple—along with others in California and Michigan—began to actually manufacture and sell a fake beverage that looked just like the real stuff.

According to prosecutors, between late 2011 through late 2012, the pair ordered more than 7 million fake labels and hundreds of thousands of phony display boxes. In the end, 4 million bottles of the counterfeit product were produced and sold.

Sentencing of the couple won't take place until April, but they face 15 years in prison and a $2.2 million fine—in addition to restitution damages that may be owed to the rightful distributors of 5-Hour Energy. In related lawsuits, six others have pleaded guilty and a $20 million civil judgment has been levied against these and other defendants earlier this year.

No one knows whether anyone was harmed by drinking the fake stuff, although 5-Hour Energy has been investigated in connection with eight deaths and a dozen life-threatening illnesses during the period that the counterfeit stuff was circulating. No one has yet said whether those cases resulted from the real or the fake drinks.

Lisa L. Malinowski, a special agent in charge of the FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations in Los Angeles, said, "US consumers rely on the FDA to ensure that their foods—and drinks— are safe and wholesome. When criminals introduce counterfeit foods into the US marketplace, they not only cheat consumers, but place consumers' health at risk."

Melissa Skabich, a spokesperson for Living Essentials, the makers of 5-hour Energy, told MUNCHIES, "We are gratified by the court's decision. Criminal behavior should be punished and in this case, justice was served. We won a civil case earlier this year and now a federal court has ruled against the criminals responsible. We also want the public to be assured that the counterfeit product that had been produced was removed from shelves years ago and destroyed."

So, when you think counterfeiting, don't just think $20 bills or Rolex watches. The very energy drink you are voraciously slugging down may not be what you think it is.