Matthew Kawa was jailed for five years and 10 months on Thursday in the Daniel Murphy paradigm peptides case after admitting he deliberately sold unapproved medicines through Paradigm Peptides. The sentencing adds prison time for Jennifer Stechkober, who pleaded guilty and was sent to prison for a year and four months.
Daniel Murphy was one of 54,000 consumers listed in the case. He said he thought he was taking a safe and tested dietary supplement to help him put on muscle in the gym, after he had lost 130 pounds and completed a major health transformation.
Daniel Murphy in Knoxville
Three years ago, Murphy said he and Laura had built what he called “a very stable, consistent, beautiful life” in Knoxville, Tennessee. He also said, “I wasn't into gym culture - I wasn't a big gym bro or anything.” Over the following two years, his mental health spiralled until he ended up in psychosis.
Murphy said his daily pills had been mixed with testosterone. He believed his wife was trying to steal his business and his mother-in-law was going to kill him.
Paradigm Peptides and Kawa
Kawa admitted trying to deceive people about what the medicines were, and admitted illegally bringing the products into the country. He and Stechkober admitted they had lied about where the pills were sourced, their purity and their company's testing procedures. The pair said the supplements were manufactured in the US, but they were actually imported from China, India and several other countries.
Paradigm Peptides' website stated that it stringently tested all its products to ensure efficacy, purity and potency. Kawa and Stechkober admitted not testing or analysing any of the products they sold. They also said they had not been aware the products had been mixed with testosterone.
54,000 consumers listed
The case is described as the biggest to rock the industry, and it sits in a market where peptides and SARMs have moved further into the online wellness space. SARMs are Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators, and substances including BPC-157, GHK-CU and TB 500 were discussed as being extolled on social media.
For Murphy, the case reaches beyond the sentence handed down on Thursday. His account shows how a product sold as a dietary supplement can sit inside a supply chain that moved from claimed US sourcing to imports from China and India, while listed consumers now face the consequences of products that were never tested as advertised.
