U.S. files criminal
charges against sellers of Jack3d, other supplements
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[November 18, 2015]
By Diane Bartz
(Reuters) - USPlabs, which sold the
best-selling workout supplement Jack3d, and six of its executives face
criminal charges for the unlawful sale of nutritional supplements, the
U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday in announcing a larger probe by
federal agencies aimed at stemming the sale of unproven products.
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The indictment says that USPlabs LLC used a synthetic stimulant made
in China to make Jack3d and OxyElite Pro but told retailers that the
supplements were manufactured from plant extracts. The supplements
had $400 million in sales between 2008 and 2013, according to the
indictment.
"From California to Maine, consumers ingest pills, powders and
liquids every day, not knowing whether they are wasting money or
whether they may end up harming, rather than helping, themselves.
Unfortunately, many of these products are not what they purport to
be or cannot do what the distributors claim they can do," said
Benjamin Mizer, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General.
Six executives with USPlabs and S.K. Laboratories, which actually
manufactured the supplements for USPlabs, face criminal charges.
Four were arrested on Tuesday and two were expected to surrender,
the Justice Department said.
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The indictment also said there were a rash of liver injuries
associated with the product OxyElite Pro Advanced Formula in late
2013, and several users needed liver transplants.
USPlabs, when told of this, informed the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration that it would stop marketing the supplement but
instead tried to sell off inventories as quickly as possible even as
executives ordered that two offending substances be removed from the
formula, the indictment said.
USPlabs, which is based in Dallas, did not respond to requests for
comment.
Earlier, news of the department's impending press conference rocked
share prices of GNC Holdings Inc, Vitamin Shoppe and Herbalife Ltd.
The companies were not named in the announcement and all recovered
to close down slightly.
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GNC Holdings said it was aware of the investigation. "Any employee
in violation of our compliance policies would be immediately
dismissed from the company," the nutritional products retailer said
in a statement.
The department also said it filed civil cases against five companies
in the past week, alleging the improper sale of a range of
supplements. The companies included Clifford Woods, which sold
Taheebo Life Tea and Life Glow Plus; Viruxo, which sold a product of
the same name to treat herpes; and Optimum Health, which sold DMSO
Cream for a variety of conditions.
The Federal Trade Commission filed lawsuits against Sunrise
Nutraceuticals LLC, Health Nutrition Products and NPB Advertising
Inc, alleging that they sold or advertised deceptive or unproven
workout or weight loss supplements.
(Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in Bengaluru and Diane Bartz in
Washington; Editing by Bernard Orr and Gopakumar Warrier)
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