MINNEAPOLIS - A federal jury convicted a 26-year-old Minnesota man of running an online pharmacy that prosecutors claimed was a multimillion dollar empire that dispensed prescription drugs to addicts.

Christopher William Smith, of Prior Lake, now faces a 20-year mandatory minimum prison sentence, according to his attorney, for an Internet pharmacy that once paid for multiple houses and Rolex watches. Midway through the clerk's reading of nine guilty verdicts, Smith hurried out a side door and retched.

The same jury acquitted Smith's accountant, Bruce Lieberman, and the pharmacy's attorney, Daniel Adkins, who had faced many of the same charges as Smith.

Smith and his allies "jeopardized the health and well-being of people around the world," U.S. Attorney Rachel K. Paulose said in a prepared statement. "This office and our law enforcement partners will aggressively prosecute illegal attempts to manipulate the power of the Internet."

Smith's attorneys said their client believed the operation was on the up-and-up and that he went to great lengths to ensure the pharmacy followed the letter of the law.

The indictment alleged that a New Jersey doctor contracted with Smith's Xpress Pharmacy Direct to provide purported prescriptions for patients he never examined. The indictment focused on sales of hydrocodone, an addictive painkiller sold under the brand name Vicodin and others.

Prosecutors said Smith and the others knew what they were doing was illegal, and that they cared more about getting paid than whether their customers actually needed drugs. They shut the pharmacy down in May 2005 and alleged that it had generated more than $20 million in illegal sales.

Smith's attorney, Joe Friedberg, said no immediate decision had been made about appealing the verdict.

"We had our shot. The prosecutors tried their case well," he said.

All three faced charges including conspiring to distribute controlled substances and introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce. Friedberg said Smith's conviction for running a continuing criminal enterprise carries a mandatory 20-year minimum prison sentence. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

Federal authorities have already seized many of Smith's assets. Friedberg said they had left one house for Smith's wife to live in, but he said he expects that to be seized, too.

Smith has also been charged with witness tampering for allegedly conspiring to kill one of the witnesses in the pharmacy trial. Friedberg said he expects prosecutors to move forward with that case.