The Baby Formula Crime Ring

This investigation exposes the black market for baby formula—and maps out the inner workings of a sprawling criminal network that profited from it.

To follow this article, one must first understand the economics of infant formula—a mysteriously expensive product: Last year, $4.3 billion dollars worth of formula was sold in the United State alone. Basic types run from $15 for a 12.5 oz can, amounting to $150 per month to exclusively feed an infant, while specialty formulas often cost double. This defies logic, given that the ingredients that make up formula (dehydrated milk and vitamins) are dirt cheap.

As it turns out, formula’s high price is an unintended consequence of a well-meaning government policy: In the 1980s, WIC (Women Infant Children) TK. By eliminating all the low-income buyers, which were replaced by one buyer with deep pockets and steady demand (the government), manufacturers felt justified jacking up prices. By the 1980s, nearly 40% of the WIC budget went to buying formula.

The artificially high prices also made formula a tempting target for black market players.

Journalist Chris Pomorski investigates one such criminal network: The mafia boss at the top of the pyramid was mastermind, mogul, and mother-of-two Alice Tondreau-Leve. Her “lieutenants” were primarily single mothers and stay-at-home moms whom she recruited via Craigslist. They bought “excess” formula from other moms and from shoplifters (most of the latter were also drug users) who stole en-mass from grocery stores. The “lieutenants” would rendezvous with the shoplifters in empty parking lots, transferring the stolen formula into their minivans, before delivering it to Tondreau-Leve.

The entire article is a fascinating read from start to finish—from the economic distortion that led to baby formula’s sky-high prices, to how the criminal network profiting from it came to be, to how law enforcement took it down.

One thing is for sure: You’ll never look at baby formula the same way again.