French Steroid Source Pleads Guilty to Selling Steroids in the United States

[Arnold]

French Steroid Source Pleads Guilty to Selling Steroids in the United States
By Millard Baker

A French-Moroccan bodybuilder who operated an internet steroid distribution ring in the United States while living in France has pleaded guilty to illegally importing and distributing anabolic steroids. Karim Mourahib was responsible for soliciting orders over the internet from France and ordering bulk quantities of anabolic steroids from China. He directed his Chinese supplier to ship the steroids to his partner in Tennessee who handled product fulfillment. Mourahib???s role in the operation focused primarily on internet sales.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette identified Jordan Robbs as Mourahib???s partner in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Robbs is reportedly under investigation along with four other individuals in Tennessee for their involvement in the Mourahib conspiracy as part of a broader steroid case involving the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service (CID-IRS).

Mourahib was busted when an undercover FDA agent decided to contact Mourahib via email to order anabolic steroids. (Mourahib did business under the following email addresses: ghsupplier@hotmail.fr and ironmike81@hotmail.com.)

FDA Special Agent Sean Grillo made controlled purchases and had them delivered to an undercover address in Pittsburgh. The shipment was traced back to Tennessee where authorities set up surveillance on Robbs.

The IRS also became involved and traced wire payments made via Western Union and MoneyGram to Mourahib???s Chinese supplier identified as Tingwin Wang of Shanghai.

Special Agent Grillo appears to be one of the individuals inside the FDA who is responsible for identifying and busting internet sources who operate outside the United States. He recently was involved in the bust of a popular Ukrainian internet source operating under the alias ???Musclebear.???

Agent Grillo tricked Musclebear into traveling to a U.S.-friendly country that had an extradition agreement with the United States. It appears that the United States government is actively working to bring foreign sources into jurisdictions where they can be arrested and ultimately prosecuted under U.S. law.

Mourahib was arrested in September 2010 when he entered the United States on a vacation to Miami. He has been in federal custody ever since. He will remain incarcerated at least until November 2011 when he will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Donetta Ambrose.


Source:
Ove, T. (August 2, 2011). Bodybuilder pleads guilty to importing and selling steroids. Retrieved from httpp://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11214/1164537-53.stm

Baker, M. (May 19, 2011). MuscleBear Busted: How the United States Apprehended an International Steroid Source. Retrieved from MuscleBear Busted: How the United States Apprehended an International Steroid Source | MESO-Rx Steroid Blog


French Steroid Source Pleads Guilty to Selling Steroids in the United States

 

[~RaZr~]

Ain't that a bitch....

 

[dub]

that poor bastard. I wish him the best.

 

[Big Pimpin]

You play, you pay.

 

[SloppyJ]

Lol @ Tingwin Wang

So moral of the story is stay out of countries that extradite to the US.

 

[ANIMALHAUS]

You play, you pay.

Amen!

 

[~RaZr~]

Musclebear got greedy IMHO. He didn't have to enter into the "red zone". Stay safe guys and remember....it's illegal.

 

[ezelsagewalker]

It all comes down to money..Nothing more and nothing less.. I agree that its a shame for the government to be wasting resources going after steroid suppliers. However, certain organizations or individuals don't limit their activities to steroids and/or tie it in as part of other illegal activities such as sales of coke, meth, weed etc. (mexican cartels etc.).

But the real goal of the government is to seize as many assets as they can; especially in light of all the budget cutbacks.. the following article is an interesting read and provides information that they don't just come after the dealers but come after the customers as well.. Nothing like uncle Sam coming in and taking your house away for buying some gear to get in shape..

The article..

Postal Inspectors Earn Drug Enforcement awards

Special Agent Sean Grillo Postal Inspectors Sean Grillo, Phil Garn, and Joe Casciotta recently received national recognition for their outstanding contributions to the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) and Asset Forfeiture Program.

Inspector Grillo received individual recognition for his commitment to the Asset Forfeiture Program in the Pittsburgh area where he repeatedly used the forfeiture of cash and money orders to successfully combat illegal drug activity. Inspector Grillo played a particularly large role in the apprehension of Mark Hill, Michael Frawley,and three other defendants. By using the Postal Inspection Service money laundering database, Inspector Grillo helped turn a simple case that began with the interception of a three-kilogram parcel of cocaine into the seizure of more than $257,000 in cash, 17 kilograms of cocaine, and more than 200 pounds of marijuana.

Inspector Garn was recognized for his work in Operation Gear Grinder, which targeted a major drug syndicate affiliate as well as eight Mexican manufacturing companies that were supplying more than 80 percent of the anabolic steroids seized in the United States. With unprecedented support from the Mexican government, confidential sources were able to record face-to-face meetings with owners of the steroid manufacturing companies and provide irrefutable evidence that the owners???
e-mail accounts were being used for trafficking.

In addition, the Operation Gear Grinder team obtained a list of thousands of U.S. customers who had been ordering the steroids and whose identities were then provided to law enforcement agencies across the country. The investigation tracked more than $2.3 million in illicit proceeds and led to $1 million in seizures.

Inspector Casciotta received recognition for his work in Operation Carlito???s Way. The operation involved prosecution of the Bansal Drug Trafficking Organization, led by father and son Brij and Akhil Bansal. The duo used Internet websites to distribute controlled prescription drugs. Akhil Bansal oversaw operations in Philadelphia while his father managed the enterprise in India.

Operation Carlito???s Way resulted in the indictment of 20 defendants charged with drug and money launder ing offenses. More than $8 million was seized from 32 domestic and 10 foreign banks in accounts located in England, the Bailiwick of Jersey, Isle of Man, Ireland, Cyprus, Singapore, Switzerland, Antigua, Nevis, and India. The team seized more than 10 million dos-
ages of pharmaceutical drugs and 108 kilograms of ketamine.

With all those seizures kinda make you wonder why they are raising the price of my stamps...