Mt. Lebanon bodybuilder, husband admit to illegal drug sales

[eazy]

A South Hills bodybuilder and her husband pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to illegally selling misbranded and non-approved steroids and performance enhancers used to counter the effects of abusing steroids.

Sara Mouton, 36, who runs a personal training business called Brazen Training, and her husband, Thomas Mouton, 34, both of Mt. Lebanon, waived indictment by grand jury and pleaded to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States before U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan.

The pair bought steroids and various drugs — including tamoxifen, anastrozole, trenbolone and others — and resold them without labels in violation of Food and Drug Administration regulations.

None of the drugs were approved by the FDA, the U.S. attorney's office said.

The two repackaged the drugs for resale and distributed them online and to people they knew in the bodybuilding community, accepting payments in bitcoin or by PayPal, according to federal prosecutors.

In addition, prosecutors said, Sara Mouton told her PayPal customers to indicate in the memo line that the payments were for bodybuilding "coaching" or "posing" in order to hide the fact that the payments were for drugs.

Prosecutors said the drugs involved were misbranded and had misleading labels that didn't include accurate ingredient names, adequate directions for use, or information pertaining to the manufacturer, packer or distributor.

“Thomas and Sara Mouton began by distributing steroids to their associates in the fitness and body-building industry, but their business ultimately expanded through word of mouth to serving a couple hundred clients,” said Stephen Kaufman, the acting U.S. attorney, in a statement.

Judge Ranjan scheduled sentencing for March 3. The Moutons remain free on bond until then.

source

 

[Send0]

I bet one of their customers ratted on them. Also seems like they must've been a small operation, because the article makes it sound like the prosecutors are really stretching to get the most out of the charge... "Didn't include labels... Or instructions".... Oh noooooo.

If they were a bigger operation, found a lot of vials/packs, or found a lot of money, then they wouldn't have any need to stretch for prosecution.

I doubt prosecution actually knows that they were serving a "couple of hundred" clients.

I can only imagine that these guys were completely stupid in their business practices to get caught, or pissed someone off who ratted on them.

 

[eazy]

pissed someone off who ratted on them.

This is what I was thinking.

 

[Pooh6369]

Use PayPal as a form of payment not the best choice. Also just putting "coaching" or "posing" not the most solid way to keep anonymous.

 

[GhostPenguin]

And this new tax season cashapp, zelle, and venmo are required to report transactions to the irs when the total amount for the year exceeds $600

So bitcoin is always the way to go it seems

 

[Achillesking]

And this new tax season cashapp, zelle, and venmo are required to report transactions to the irs when the total amount for the year exceeds $600

So bitcoin is always the way to go it seems

Accepting payments like that blows my mind.