GH Bust article
GH bust
Man charged with selling growth hormone
Paul Gustafson, Star Tribune
March 27, 2004BODY0327
A St. Paul man alleged to have sold an illegally obtained human growth hormone and a homemade version of it to body builders was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury in Iowa.
Basil Han, 29, is accused of buying the human growth hormone hGH from two Iowa men who obtained it illegally from China, according to court documents.
When the Iowa men lost their Chinese sources of hGH, one told authorities, they created their own version, placed it in false packaging and sold much of it to Han for resale.
When Han was arrested March 18 in Iowa, he was in the process of buying the men's counterfeit hGH business and moving supplies and equipment for making the hormone to St. Paul, authorities allege.
By then, however, one of the Iowa men already was cooperating with federal authorities.
As a result, federal agents tape-recorded Han on March 14 as he agreed to buy the men's business for $15,000. Later that day, the agents watched Han as he allegedly moved equipment for the illegal drug business into an apartment in the 1100 block of Ashland Av. in St. Paul, according to a search warrant filed Friday. Han was indicted on one count of possessing human growth hormone with intent to distribute it for unauthorized purposes and on one count of conspiracy.
His scheduled hearing Friday in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was postponed. His attorney, John Lane, of Cedar Rapids, could not be reached for comment.
A man identified as B.J. Stevens told federal authorities that he and Nick Hanson of Mason City, Iowa, schemed to import hGH illegally from China beginning in 2000, according to court documents.
They did so by using Web sites to pose as representatives of legitimate biotechnology companies that needed hGH for neuromuscular research.
The hGH then was fraudulently repackaged as an approved human growth hormone product called Serostim and sold to body builders and others, the indictment alleges.
The Federal Drug Administration has not approved any foreign-manufactured hGH for use in the United States. But Serostim, a recombinant hGH product produced by Serono Inc., of Massachusetts, has been approved to prevent AIDS wasting.
However, the drug, which helps develop muscle mass, has become widely available on the black market because, unlike other steroids, it isn't detected in drug testing used by sports groups.
A Serono spokeswoman declined to comment on the scope of the drug's misuse, but she said there have been similar cases
When the Iowa men lost their Chinese sources of hGH in September 2001, they began making their own counterfeit version from ingredients bought over the Internet, Stevens told authorities.
They also sold a substance called Somaject, which they made themselves, by making it appear to be a human growth hormone product made by a legitimate German firm, according to the indictment against Han.
Han allegedly bought 2,500 kits of hGH from the Iowa men between May 2001 and December 2003, then sold it to others. Much of it was the counterfeit substance the Iowa men made themselves, Stevens told authorities.
Paul Gustafson is at
[email protected].
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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They also sold a substance called Somaject, which they made themselves, by making it appear to be a human growth hormone product made by a legitimate German firm, according to the indictment against Han.
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