Feds Jam Supplement Scam: Boca, Delray, Parkland & Boynton

Federal prosecutors have charged five local men along with another in Nevada with “a scheme to distribute illegal dietary supplements.” Two have reported addresses in Boca, one in Delray, one in Boynton and another in Parkland. Full details below:

The Department of Justice issued a press release on the case, and a couple of readers forwarded it to us.

The 14-count indictment charges the six men above along with two local LLCs, Blackstone Labs and Ventech Labs (Ventrella’s company).

The indictment alleges that the defendants sold hundreds of thousands of illegal products, including anabolic steroids, nationwide and internationally, fraudulently representing that those products and pills were high-quality, legal dietary supplements.  According to the indictment, the defendants created an illicit manufacturing company and routed sales of illegal products through trusted distributors, knowing that the products were unsafe or could not legally be sold to consumers.

The specifics of the charges are somewhat complicated.

All of the defendants were charged with one count of a conspiracy to defraud consumers and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by selling products labeled as dietary supplements that contained unapproved new drugs, illegal steroids, and other ingredients that were hazardous and prohibited by law.

On top of that general charge for all defendants, the Feds specifically targeted Braun and Singerman, and their company Blackstone Labs. This has to do with a product called Super DMZ Rx 2.0, which the Feds contend is “an unapproved new drug.”

There are also charges on all defendants related to distributing anabolic steroids, and money laundering accusations specifically about Braun and Singerman.

The bigger charges carry maximum sentences of 10-15 years in prison.

Some of these defendants are high profile in the world of supplements and bodybuilding, or at least portray themselves as such.

Some of the defendants seem obsessed Arnold Schwarzenegger and have pictures of themselves with him, or of themselves as bodybuilders.

Reading deep into the indictment there are allegations that Ventrella “ordered illegal and unsafe ingredients from China imported into the United States with false and fraudulent documentation.” Ads falsely claimed FDA approval. There are numerous allegations of e-mails and texts about lies to deceive consumers and more lies and tricks to hide things or lie to the FDA.

Blackstone issued a public response to the indictment, which follows. A pdf of the indictment is at the bottom of this article.

“Blackstone Labs responds to the Government’s false and inaccurate charges against it and several Team Blackstone members by assuring all its worldwide customers it intends to vigorously defend the right of health conscious strength athletes, bodybuilders, and wellness professionals to access and use nutritional supplements that assist in muscle development and body tone. The indictment does not challenge any of Blackstone Labs’ current product formulations. At all times, Blackstone has worked diligently to identify nutritional supplements that are wholesome, beneficial, and safe for the body,and it has promoted only products that fully comply with the law and prevailing practices. Blackstone Labs remains open for business.

It is Blackstone’s belief that the government is overreaching in this case because of its ongoing, wrong-headed attack on strength and bodybuilding athletes and the nutritional supplement industry. These false charges are no different from the allegations brought against the dietary ingredient Picamilon, a compound made from the naturally occurring dietary ingredients niacin and gamma-aminobutyric acid. 

Totally ignored by the Government in its assault on the supplement industry is the clear directive of the Food & Drug Act definition of a “dietary supplement” as a product (besides tobacco) that is “intended to supplement the diet” and that contains one or more of the following “dietary ingredients”: (A) a vitamin; (B) a mineral; (C) an herb or other botanical; (D) an amino acid; (E) a dietary substance for use by man to supplement the diet by increasing the total dietary intake; or (F) a concentrate, metabolite, constituent, extract, or combination of any ingredient described in clause (A), (B), (C), (D), or (E). Picamilon is clearly a dietary supplement and not illegal as it is a product combining a vitamin (niacin) and an amino acid (gamma-aminobutyric acid). Prominent health scientists have confirmed this fact”.

The indictment is below in PDF form. It’s 39 pages long.