Kansas City, Mo. ? A Florida man was charged Friday with selling counterfeit pills that were labeled as the cholesterol drug Lipitor and eventually were distributed by a Kansas City-based drug wholesaler.

Julio Cesar Cruz, 41, of Miami, was charged in U.S. District Court in Kansas City as part of the Food and Drug Administration’s investigation into the sale of counterfeit Lipitor, which began in April. Lipitor is manufactured and distributed by Pfizer Ireland Pharmaceuticals and Pfizer Inc.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, Cruz sold 203 bottles that each contained 5,000 tablets of pills labeled as Lipitor to G&K Pharma LLC, a Florida firm licensed to sell wholesale drugs in Missouri. G&K Pharma then sold the Lipitor to Kansas City-based Albers Medical Distributors Inc.

The bottles Albers bought were shipped by Cruz to Med-Pro Inc., of Lexington, Neb., which repackaged them, the affidavit said.

A forensic analysis confirmed that at least some of the tablets were not manufactured or distributed by Pfizer, court documents allege.

“This represents a serious and significant public health concern,” U.S. Atty. Todd Graves said. “Counterfeit drugs entering the U.S. marketplace jeopardize the health of the public because these drugs lack any assurance of safety or effectiveness.”

The FDA ordered Albers Medical Distributors to recall thousands of bottles marked as Lipitor in May after the fake drug was discovered on the market. The FDA said the fake Lipitor was not dangerous but that consumers might not have received its benefits.

Pfizer later filed a lawsuit to stop Albers and Med-Pro from selling more fake versions of the drug. A racketeering lawsuit also was filed against Albers Medical and Med-Pro in July, claiming the companies violated the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act by scheming with unknown manufacturers to traffic fake Lipitor.