Webinar Ad Hoc 3/2020: European Intellectual Property Crime - Case Study: The Vigorali

The Vigorali case involved the trafficking and distribution of unregulated pharmaceuticals amounting to serious commercial fraud; deception of the public, illegal use of the internet and online banking, leading to money laundering, all facilitated by transnational organised criminal networks. The unregulated pharmaceuticals distribution network was based on internet commerce with a ring of approximately 50 web-sites allowing payment by credit card. In the Vigorali Case, the contribution of both Europol and Eurojust was essential to understand the scope and scale of criminal operations and then to coordinate operations, the execution of mutual legal assistance requests which were also propaedeutic to the successful organisation of the “Day of Action”.