Aus Labs body building supplement kingpin Christopher Ramsey pleads guilty over banned drug use

The potential hub of a commercial empire built on selling physique supplements containing banned drugs linked to cancer, stroke, heart attacks and blindness has pleaded guilty to distributing banned harmful substances.

30-year-old Sydney University student Christopher Ramsey checked three companies that made and sold the supplements, which were found to contain drugs banned from Australia and substances banned for human use.

Although his warehouse has been robbed and company records seized, one of the associated websites still advertises the products online.

In a Sydney hearing last week, Ramsey pleaded guilty to more than 200 charges, including manufacturing, advertising and selling harmful substances and selling products without a license.the Daily Telegraph reported.

One such substance, Cardarine, is considered to be so carcinogenic that it has been banned altogether in Australia, but was found in four of the 36 products seized by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).

There were 35 other chemicals banned for human use in the 40 products offered by Natural Franchises Pty Ltd, which traded as Aus Labs, SARMs International Pty Ltd and Smart Labs Pty Ltd – all of which listed Ramsey as sole director.

Some substances were known to cause liver toxicity, stroke and blindness, while others had only been tested on animals or considered “experimental” with uncertain long-term effects, according to the agreed-upon facts presented to the court.

The Aus Labs website remains online and appears to be active.

The TGA found that after October 2018, Ramsey had sold nearly $750,000 worth of product, some of which were advertised as “the next step in the process of human improvement and evolution.”

Two of Ramsey’s companies made and sold injectable peptides and SARMs (Select Androgen Receptor Modulators), which were marketed as a muscle-building alternative to anabolic steroids.

US authorities warned in 2017 that SARMS increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes and liver damage and in Australia they are only available with a medical prescription.

There was no mention of this in the Aus Labs ad calling SARMS “the pinnacle of years of research” that “will dramatically improve endurance and recovery.”

Under the auspices of his company Smart Labs, Ramsey also sold “nootropics,” or “smart drugs,” which were claimed to improve concentration and memory, improve the user’s social life, and combat hangovers, stress, and anxiety.

The TGA found that the active ingredient in these products, which were sold as a powder for $130 per kilo, was phenibut, which is listed in Australian as an addictive poison and banned for all but research purposes.

In a May 2019 raid on Ramsey’s warehouse and laboratory, which was located in two buildings along Princes Highway in Kirrawee in south-east Sydney, the TGA seized 1.8kg of pure phenibut.

According to data seized by the TGA, Ramsey’s companies have sold nearly 500 SARM or peptide products to 3,662 customers as of October 2018.

Ramsey imported the banned chemicals from Russia and China to manufacture his products, which proved so popular that he enlisted his mother and partner to help bottle and label them for shipping.

Neither the mother nor the partner have been charged.

Ramsey and his affiliates will be sentenced next March.