Massachusetts man pleads guilty to counterfeit steroid conspiracy

BOSTON — A Greater Boston metropolitan man pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to multiple charges related to his role in a conspiracy to traffic counterfeit steroids to customers across the country.

This guilty plea resulted from an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations.

Philip Goodwin, 37 of Lynn, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, one count of conspiracy to traffic counterfeit drugs, one count of trafficking counterfeit drugs, one count of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, and one count of money laundering conspiracy. U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton scheduled sentencing for Feb. 28, 2018.

In April 2017, Goodwin and five others, including Tyler Bauman, aka “musclehead 320,” were arrested and charged with operating a counterfeit steroid operation on the North Shore.

According to court documents, from approximately May 2015 until April 12, 2017, the conspirators manufactured steroid products - made from raw materials purchased overseas - in Goodwin’s home, and marketed them as “Onyx” steroids using “Onyx” labels that were also ordered from overseas suppliers. Onyx, now owned by Amgen Inc., is a legitimate pharmaceutical company that does not manufacture steroids.  

The defendants allegedly sold the steroids to customers across the United States using email and social media platforms, collected payment through money remitters, such as Western Union and MoneyGram, and used false identifications and multiple remitter locations to pick up the proceeds.  Some of the defendants laundered proceeds from the steroid sales through Wicked Tan LLC, a tanning business located in Beverly, Massachusetts, which they owned and operated specifically to launder the proceeds of the steroid operation.    

In August 2017, Bauman pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy and is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 23, 2018.

The charges of conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit drugs and conspiracy to distribute controlled substances provide for a sentence of no greater than five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss of the conspiracy. The charge of possession of a controlled substance provides for a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss of the conspiracy. The charge of trafficking in counterfeit drugs provides for a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $5 million. The charge of money laundering conspiracy provides for a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $500,000 or twice the value of the property involved in the laundering transactions. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb; Michael Shea, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; Shelly Binkowski, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and Jeffrey Ebersole, Special Agent in Charge of the Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations, New York Field Office, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amy Harman Burkart and David J. D’Addio of Weinreb’s Cybercrime Unit are prosecuting the case.