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William Merlino, of Mays Landing, was charged in December 2019 with one count of introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce, United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero said Tuesday, Aug. 9.
Merlino ran the business out of his home, packaging and selling Dinitriophenol (DNP) for human consumption from at least November 2017 until March 2019, the US Attorney said.
The chemical, which has never been approved by the FDA, was first introduced in the 1930s as a weight-loss drug despite serious side effects such as dehydration, cataracts, liver damage, and death, prosecutors said.
This was before the law required drugs to be proven safe before they were marketed.
DNP can be found in many industrial and commercial products, including herbicides, dyes, and wood preservatives, authorities said.
Using Twitter to advertise, eBay to sell, and email to communicate with clients, Merlino earned approximately $54,000 from clients in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. through his sales, Romero said.
After a year-long investigation by the FDA, investigators served a search warrant at Merlino's home, where they found bulk DNP, packaging and encapsulating materials, and a pill press, they said.
Meanwhile, Merlino faked a pancreatic cancer diagnosis in an attempt to avoid trial, authorities said. He allegedly altered a doctor's letter and his medical records to make the diagnosis seem real.
As a result, Merlino is now separately facing obstruction of justice charges.
A witness testified at trial that Merlino was known among their coworkers as "the yellow man" because every time he brought in a package to ship, he would have yellow dust from the chemical on his skin, nails, and clothes.
“The United States sets standards for the foods and drugs we ingest in order to keep American consumers and patients safe,” US Attorney Romero said.
“The defendant knowingly skirted our country’s regulations by marketing an unsafe chemical to people hoping for a quick and easy solution. This scheme put many people’s health and safety at risk. We urge everyone to refrain from ingesting DNP for any reason.”
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