Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Dietary pill case accused fight on
Bodybuilders battle charges of illegal supplement sales
The bodybuilders made millions selling products designed to help their clients bulk up, but the government accuses them of fraudulently peddling dietary supplements containing dangerous designer drugs and illegal steroids.
Declaring the prosecution an effort by the government “to destroy the weightlifting industry,” the muscle men have promised to beat the case for the good of iron-pumpers everywhere.
If you listen to the defense, it’s a case of how Boca Ratonbased Blackstone Labs and Ventech Labs turned selling dietary supplements into business success. If you listen to prosecutors, it’s a tale of South Florida salesmen making millions peddling compounds of questionable legality and safety.
The government, in its 49-page, 14-count indictment, charges that Phillip Braun, Aaron Singerman, Robert DiMaggio, Anthony Ventrella, David Winsauer and James Boccuzzi conspired to sell hundreds of thousands of illegal products, including dietary supplements containing possibly dangerous designer steroids known as “prohormones.”
All of the accused, with the exception of DiMaggio, are from South Florida.
The indictment alleges that six men and the two companies they owned distributed the purportedly dangerous products even though they knew they might be harmful to consumers, and that they engaged in litigation to silence the complaints of people who their product sickened.
“When you sell a product that doesn’t have a label that includes ingredients, that’s a crime,” argued Assistant United States Attorney David Frank to the federal judge during the hearing.
Arguing that the ingredients found in their products were either “natural,” or unregulated, Blackstone Labs CEO Phillip Braun and his four codefendants have consistently
Encampments have popped up around town in the years since a tent city was closed down at Stranahan Park, City Attorney Alain Boileau said. In recent months, homeless people have set up tents and tarps along the fence near the Salvation Army at 1445 W. Broward Blvd.
Children who attend the nearby Jack & Jill Children’s Center can’t help but see them,
Boileau said.
“It is an effective tool in that folks can’t just camp out in the swale and make it their permanent home,” Boileau said of the new rule. “Here, you can enforce the law and have some consequence. It gives us the opportunity to interact with [the homeless] and have a little bit of teeth to try to convince them to seek some help.”
Before the vote, activist Alexis Butler chided the commission for picking on the homeless.
“They are one of the most vulnerable populations in this country,” she said. “It’s astounding. This has been going on for 10 years that you’ve been trying to criminalize homeless folks. Do you have any shame at all? Do you have any empathy? I don’t think any of you do.”
After the unanimous vote, Butler blasted commissioners with a string of profanities. She was escorted from the meeting by Police Chief Rick Maglione and two officers.
Homeless activist Jeff Weinberger, who was not at the meeting, also objected to the new crackdown.
Weinberger referred to homeless shelters as “human warehouses” that do little to help the homeless transition to housing and a better life.
“The only real solution to homelessness is four walls and a roof, and providing supportive services tailored to need,” he said.