Omar Wala, Miami Entrepreneur Arrested for Counterfeit Xanax Trafficking

Omar Wala, a once-aspirant Florida International University student who made a fortune by importing the infamous club drug Molly from China, has unexpectedly found himself embroiled in legal issues once more. Wala’s failure can be attributed to his own arrogance, which led to federal officials finding him thanks to the recognizable orange Lamborghini registered in his name.

Omar Wala was freed from federal prison in 2016 after completing his sentence and seemed to be starting over. He changed his image to campaign for the construction of affordable housing in the New York region and even bought a luxurious $3 million home in Hialeah Gardens. Wala used social media sites like Instagram to display his lavish lifestyle, which ironically included a new Lamborghini, as he flaunted his newfound success.

But on 12th Dec 2022, when he was detained in New York and prosecuted by federal authorities for his suspected role in the unlawful trafficking of fake Xanax, Wala’s newly found stability took a drastic turn.

The Eastern District of Kentucky’s indictment seeks to seize a variety of Wala’s assets, including high-end automobiles, money held in numerous bank accounts, cryptocurrencies, and a collection of expensive timepieces from renowned manufacturers including Rolex, Audemars Piguet, and Cartier.

The indictment also identified Michael Basalyga, Philbert Campbell, Vienna Cavanaugh, and Reina Chirinos de Urena in addition to Wala. It is still unknown how many of them have been arrested as of the reporting date even though the indictment omitted their residential addresses.

Now 33 years old, Wala was apprehended on Long Island and later given a $1 million bond. Wala’s defence lawyer, Paul Petruzzi, adamantly insists on his client’s innocence and calls the accusations a “complete fabrication.” Why would a man generating millions of dollars legally dabble in phoney Xanax, Petruzzi wondered as he questioned Wala’s reason for dabbling in the illegal trade of counterfeit Xanax.

Wala expressed his concern that federal authorities unfairly singled him out in an exclusive interview with the Miami Herald and asserted that the evidence against him was thin. He denounced the probe as a “witch hunt” that was only concerned with his assets, even going so far as to say that the police had seized a car that wasn’t his.

Looking back to the middle of 2010, Wala was discovered to be a member of a new generation of drug dealers engaged in the postal system-based direct importation of synthetic drugs like Molly from China. This illegal traffic was previously documented by The Miami Herald in its thorough 2015 series “The China Pipeline.”

Initial charges of intent to distribute a controlled substance led to Wala’s arrest in July 2013. According to the federal criminal complaint, Homeland Security Investigations agents took action against a club promoter who revealed information about a well-known Molly dealer who could be identified by his eye-catching orange Lamborghini. This tip immediately brought detectives to Wala, who was henceforth the target of close observation.

Wala admitted to importing methylone, a substance frequently put into pills and marketed as Molly, the complaint claims. Inside Wala’s white Porsche Panamera, authorities found a black bag containing $149,700 in cash. Additional proof of Wala’s involvement in the illegal drug trade included incriminating texts between him and his employees as well as emails sent to his Chinese source via his Florida International University email account.

Wala ultimately entered a guilty plea to a single offence and was given a 24-month prison term. Successfully arguing for an early termination was defence counsel.