A man accused of smuggling illegal bodybuilding supplements from China, mislabeling and selling them in the Rio Grande Valley pleaded guilty Thursday.
Robert Lance Schuffert owned a business that sold misbranded products unsafe for human consumption to local retailers, according to the criminal information filed in court.
Schuffert went before U.S. District Judge Randy Crane Thursday morning and entered a guilty plea after reaching an agreement with the government.
Schuffert confessed to selling Ostarine MK-2866, a product containing SARMs (selective androgen receptor modulators) which are a synthetic chemical that mimics the effects of testosterone and other anabolic steroids.
The product was marketed to help increase lean muscle mass and lose unwanted fat.
The use of SARMs can have fatal consequences. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a public safety alert in 2017 warning against ingesting products containing SARMs that were linked to life-threatening reactions like liver toxicity and an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.
Schuffert said he smuggled the product from China, and to avoid FDA scrutiny, the product was mislabeled as “for lab rat use only” and “for research purposes only.” When it was sold to local retailers, it was then marketed with instructions on how to use, guaranteed results and purported to be of “pharmaceutical grade.”
An unnamed business owner in charge of a workout supplement retailer in the Valley was also involved in the sales, but their information has yet to be disclosed.
As part of a plea agreement, Schuffert agreed to forfeit $20,000 to the government and received a recommendation for a lower sentence.
Crane scheduled the sentencing hearing for the beginning of May.
In a similar scheme last year, a North Carolina sport supplement company owner was sentenced to serve one year in a federal prison after entering a guilty plea on similar charges.
