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A Shrewsbury man accused of operating a counterfeit steroid ring through a bombastic social media persona pleaded guilty to several charges in federal court Monday.
Tyler Bauman is one of six people charged with selling counterfeit steroids under the "musclehead320" moniker and laundering the proceeds through a tanning salon in Beverly.
Baumann and his fiancee, Kathryn Green, were two of the people at the head of the scheme, according to court records.
Members of the ring are accused of manufacturing steroids by purchasing raw materials from around the globe. The products was that labeled as an "Onyx" product.
The actual Onyx company is a subsidiary of Amgen Inc., a global biopharmaceutical company, and does not manufacture steroids or other products. In May 2015, Amgen learned about the possible counterfeiting issue after Onyx received an email inquiry requesting product verification for a package of injectable steroids, according to federal court documents.
Amgen eventually hired a private investigator to purchase testosterone and trenbolone from the ring. Homeland Security Investigators also made purchases, which revealed that the ring were using Onyx trademarks on their products.
Baumann was one of the operators of the the "musclehead320" and other derivative social media accounts which posted bizarre videos on Instagram and Twitter to show off the product, authorities said.
One video shows a heavily muscled man listening to hardcore rock music while wearing a deranged and scarred mask. At one point, the man in the video sticks himself with a hypodermic needle and leaves it dangling from his arm.
In another video, posted by Baumann on Twitter, a turkey stuffed with vials appears to be being basted with liquid steroids, authorities said.
-- Musclehead (@musclehead320) November 26, 2016
"As 'musclehead 320,' [Bauman] publicly denied any suggestion that he was directly involved with making or selling Onyx; however, at the same time, he was in fact marketing Onyx injectable steroids through other social media accounts, including Instagram accounts in the name of 'onyx_roid' and 'onyxpharma,'" a press release from the U.S. District Attorney's Office of Massachusetts reads.
Baumann and other members of the ring communicated with customers over email to place orders for the "Onyx" steroids. To conceal their scheme, members of the ring would have customers make payments through Western Union and MoneyGram Then, using false identification, the members would pick up payments at several different remitter locations to avoid withdrawing larger proceeds.
Baumann and the Onyx crew purchased a tanning salon in 2016 called Wicked Tan, which was used to launder the proceeds from the scheme, authorities said.
Court records show that the salon was charging unlimited monthly tanning for the same price other salons charged for one session.
Baumann's fiancee pleaded guilty to acting as the financial "middleman" for the scheme earlier this month.
The corporate secretary for Wicked Tan LLC, Melissa Sclafani, pleaded guilty to acquiring the materials to manufacture counterfeit steroids in July.
Baumann pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute counterfeit steroids, conspiracy to traffic counterfeit steroids, conspiracy to launder money, trafficking counterfeit drugs and possession of steroids with intent to distribute.
Soruce : masslive.com/news/worcester/index.ssf/2017/08/man_behind_musclehead320_perso.html
Tyler Bauman is one of six people charged with selling counterfeit steroids under the "musclehead320" moniker and laundering the proceeds through a tanning salon in Beverly.
Baumann and his fiancee, Kathryn Green, were two of the people at the head of the scheme, according to court records.
Members of the ring are accused of manufacturing steroids by purchasing raw materials from around the globe. The products was that labeled as an "Onyx" product.
The actual Onyx company is a subsidiary of Amgen Inc., a global biopharmaceutical company, and does not manufacture steroids or other products. In May 2015, Amgen learned about the possible counterfeiting issue after Onyx received an email inquiry requesting product verification for a package of injectable steroids, according to federal court documents.
Amgen eventually hired a private investigator to purchase testosterone and trenbolone from the ring. Homeland Security Investigators also made purchases, which revealed that the ring were using Onyx trademarks on their products.
Baumann was one of the operators of the the "musclehead320" and other derivative social media accounts which posted bizarre videos on Instagram and Twitter to show off the product, authorities said.
One video shows a heavily muscled man listening to hardcore rock music while wearing a deranged and scarred mask. At one point, the man in the video sticks himself with a hypodermic needle and leaves it dangling from his arm.
In another video, posted by Baumann on Twitter, a turkey stuffed with vials appears to be being basted with liquid steroids, authorities said.
-- Musclehead (@musclehead320) November 26, 2016
"As 'musclehead 320,' [Bauman] publicly denied any suggestion that he was directly involved with making or selling Onyx; however, at the same time, he was in fact marketing Onyx injectable steroids through other social media accounts, including Instagram accounts in the name of 'onyx_roid' and 'onyxpharma,'" a press release from the U.S. District Attorney's Office of Massachusetts reads.
Baumann and other members of the ring communicated with customers over email to place orders for the "Onyx" steroids. To conceal their scheme, members of the ring would have customers make payments through Western Union and MoneyGram Then, using false identification, the members would pick up payments at several different remitter locations to avoid withdrawing larger proceeds.
Baumann and the Onyx crew purchased a tanning salon in 2016 called Wicked Tan, which was used to launder the proceeds from the scheme, authorities said.
Court records show that the salon was charging unlimited monthly tanning for the same price other salons charged for one session.
Baumann's fiancee pleaded guilty to acting as the financial "middleman" for the scheme earlier this month.
The corporate secretary for Wicked Tan LLC, Melissa Sclafani, pleaded guilty to acquiring the materials to manufacture counterfeit steroids in July.
Baumann pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute counterfeit steroids, conspiracy to traffic counterfeit steroids, conspiracy to launder money, trafficking counterfeit drugs and possession of steroids with intent to distribute.
Soruce : masslive.com/news/worcester/index.ssf/2017/08/man_behind_musclehead320_perso.html
