Supplement Retailer Owner and Employees Face Prison for Selling “Tren” and “Madol”




February 8, 2011 by Millard Baker
The owner and employees of a Little Rock sports supplement retailer are personally facing federal felony charges and imprisonment related to the sale of two popular products sold at hundreds of supplement stores around the country that were found to contain illegal steroids. What does this mean for other supplement retailers under investigation, such as Bodybuilding.com who have sold similar products?
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas and the Food and Drug Administration and Office of Criminal Investigations (FDA-OCI) have indicted David Paglianite, owner of See More Results in Little Rock, and two employees, Matthew Christman and Thomas Jucha, for selling American Cellular Labs’ “Tren Xtreme” and “Mass Xtreme“. The active ingredients in Tren Xtreme and Mass Xtreme are commonly referred to as “Tren” and “Madol”, respectively.
The FDA issued warning letters and public health advisories for the active ingredients in ACL’s “Tren Xtreme” and “Mass Xtreme” in late July 2009 in conjunction with the raid on American Cellular Labs. See More Results allegedly continued to sell “Tren Xtreme” and “Mass Xtreme” after these FDA notices were published. Tren and Madol were later purchased in two separate undercover purchases by narcotics detectives on October 28, 2009 and November 10, 2009. Federal agents finally raided the store on November 24, 2009.
The indictment against the owner and employees of a small supplement retailer is surprising when compared to the government treatment of the manufacturers. The manufacturer of American Cellular Labs “Tren Xtreme” and “Mass Xtreme“ negotiated a nice plea agreement where they were able to pay a fine while keeping the principals of the company from personally facing felony charges and imprisonment. The owner of IForce Nutrition, another manufactuer producing similar illegal products, also avoided personally facing steroid charges when his company agreed to pay a fine.
It is increasingly clear that supplement manufacturers AND supplement retailers are both at risk of prosecution. It seems unusual that manufacturers are penalized with fines while retailers may face jail. Supplement retailers have often assumed that the manufacturers of products they sold would be the only ones facing legal risks. In fact, retailers have often stocked up on remaining inventory of steroid-containing supplements that were to be pulled from the market. This is particularly ill-advised given the increased regulatory oversight by the FDA.
What does this mean for owners and employees of other supplement retailers that have been the subject of government criminal investigations, such as Bodybuilding.com?
Bodybuilding.com also sold similar products containing “tren” and “madol” to federal agents in an undercover purchase that took place after the July 23, 2009 FDA public advisory on “tren” and “madol”. Agents ordered the following products on August 6, 2009 which allegedly contained either “tren” andor “madol”: iForce Nutrition’s “17a PheraFLEX”, Nutra Coastal’s “D-Stianozol”, Nutra Coastal’s “MD1T”, Nutra Coastal’s “Trena”, APS’ “Ultra Ripped Stack”. In addition, at least 26 products allegedly containing “tren” and/or “madol” were found to be “in stock” during a “simulated purchased” conducted by federal investigators on September 21, 2009.
The multi-million dollar question is what action will be taken against Bodybuilding.com? The similarities to the See More Results case suggest the government has not ruled out indictment of the principals. However, See More Results is a small retailer owned by an individual who filed bankruptcy last year. Bodybuilding.com is an online supplement retailer valued in excess of $100 million whose controlling owner is the publicly-trade media conglomerate Liberty Media Corporation.
Bodybuilding.com will be able to afford a better defense than an individual in the midst of bankruptcy proceeding. The most likely scenario is that the government will seek substantial forfeiture of revenues given the finances of Bodybuilding.com. Any government action against Bodybuilding.com would have chilling effects on the sports nutrition industry