Former NPC Bodybuilder Tom Vigliatura has been falsely accused of selling steroids by reporter Lee Hammel of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette newspaper in Massachusetts. However, I am certain that this false accusation is the least of Thomas Vigliatura’s concerns; Vigliatura has been in prison since August 2005. He was sentenced this week to 51 months in federal prison and ordered to forfeit his home and his defunct supplement store, T. Vig’s Sports Supplements Unlimited for selling Ecstasy, Cocaine and GHB - but NOT steroids (”Bodybuilder gets 51 months, forfeits home and business,” March 24).
Thomas J. Vigliatura, 40, of 118 Santoro Road, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy from 2002 to 2004 to distribute illegal steroids known as GHB and GBL and to possess cocaine and Ecstasy as well as distribution of GBL and GHB.
Reporter Lee Hammel wants to throw in steroid distribution as one of the charges when he erroneously identifies GHB and GBL as steroids. It upsets me that so many reporters remain blissfully ignorant about anabolic steroids and fail to perform even basic fact checking when it comes to basic questions like “what are anabolic steroids?” Why should reporters stick to the facts? Maybe Hammel just assumed that he was selling anabolic steroids since, after all, Vigliatura was a competitive bodybuilder.
Anabolic steroids are already being demonized by the current tidal wave of steroid hysteria permeating the United States. There is no need to false associate steroids to a criminal case involving cocaine and ecstasy, police corruption and threats against a federal prosecutor that has nothing to do with steroids. But anything to further demonize steroids must be the new journalistic standard?
Thanks to reporter Lee Hammel, the Associated Press has picked up the story and syndicated it nationally using Hammel’s inaccurate reporting regarding steroids (”Bodybuilder sentenced on drug charges,” March 25).
Thomas Vigliatura pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy to distribute illegal steroids and possession of cocaine and Ecstasy…
The distribution of drugs like cocaine, ecstasy, and GHB has been a different enterprise from the distribution of anabolic steroids. (Although this distinction is starting to disappear as the federal steroid witch hunt threatens to push the entire steroid market completely underground.) The differences in cocaine/ecstasy/GHB distribution and anabolic steroid distribution is highlighted by the former group’s reluctance to testify or “snitch” on co-conspirators and the latter group’s widespread and eager willingness to “rat out” co-conspirators in exchange for leniency (”Bodybuilder’s sentence is bulked up by judge: six months,” July 27, 2007).
[Thomas J. Vigliatura] reiterated his contention that he refused to testify out of fear of reprisal to himself and his family…
“In no way was I trying to attempt to impede justice in any way,” Mr. Vigliatura told the judge before sentencing. “Most of you don’t know what it’s like where I live.”
Mr. Vigliatura’s real concern is his “reputation as a stand-up guy…”
Mr. Vigliatura did not want to be known as “a cooperator, snitch, rat, informant.”
Steroid dealers and distributors have not historically had the same concerns. But the federal war on steroids is close to succeeding at making the underground anabolic steroid market more dangerous than ever before for steroid users and steroid dealers alike.
IFBB Pro Bodybuilder and reigning two-time Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler settled his lawsuit with NDS Nutritional Products. Cutler filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court in July 2007 “claiming misappropriation of image and likeness, invasion of privacy and unjust enrichment. ” Basically, NDS took a picture of Jay Cutler competing at a bodybuilding contest and placed it on their products without obtaining permission or paying Cutler for the commercial use of his image (”Bodybuilder Settles LA Lawsuit Against Nutrition Firm,” March 10).
Jay Cutler is sponsored by Muscletech, who pays Jay well for the use of his image in the promotion of Muscletech supplements.
“Customers in the northeast can place orders at 7:00 pm EST and still have their orders processed, out the door, and possibly delivered the next day, depending on their location. We are increasing the amount of people we can reach in one day by more than 60 million, and we’ll have an average transit time throughout northeast of 1-2 days,” explains Bodybuilding.com’s General Operations Manager Josh Brouse.
Liberty Media recently acquired a controlling share of Bodybuilding.com making the Idaho-based company one of the most formiddable supplement retailers on the Internet. Ryan DeLuca, CEO of Bodybuilding.com, plans to continuing increasing the company’s support for the sport of bodybuilding in the future.
Former IFBB Pro bodybuilder Milos Sarcev and Rick Robinette founded Koloseum Nutritional Science (KNS) in 2006. Redux Holdingspurchased 100% of remaining shares in KNS. The acquisition by Redux Holdings has been in the works for some time. The Los Angeles Business Journal explains the role of Redux Holdings and how its holding of Naturade resulted in the acquisition of Koloseum:
Thus was born Redux Holdings Inc., which uses its penny stock to acquire assets of underperforming and distressed companies on a non-cash basis. He then leverages debt financing from investment banks and other sources to pay off creditors and rebuild the company, often employing bits and pieces of other acquisitions.
“Usually what you see in the turnaround market is people with a lot of money who would hire someone else to do the turnaround; it’s a pure financial play for them,” said Michelin, most recently a partner at Santa Monica-based restructuring firm Kibel Green Inc.
“What I wanted to do is combine the capital with the operational expertise of people who know how to turn it around, so in the end we’d have the equity.”
Michelin’s current focus is re-establishing Anaheim-based Naturade Inc., a venerable Orange County nutritional supplement maker that fell on hard times, according to regulatory filings, following mismanagement by a new owner earlier in the decade.
In January 2007, Rick Robinette came aboard Naturade (a subsidiary of Redux Holdings) while it was recovering from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. When Naturade emerged from bankruptcy in November 2007, it quickly raised $1.2 million in funding, gave significant equity stakes to Rick Robinette (who was promoted to Chief Operation Officer (COO)) and Milos Sarcev (who was retained as Chief Science Officer). Redux Holdings also acquired a 30% stake in Koloseum Nutritional Sciences.
The recent purchase completes the acquisition of KNS by Redux Holdings. What does this mean? Trey Meehan, private equity manager and venture capitalist involved with Redux Holdings offered the following analysis:
Well, here is what I think it does for the Company. First, it provides a new product line to market alongside the Naturade brand to a large network that is already in place. Naturade is in stores all across the United States (as well as some international locations) like grocery stores, natural food stores, Sam’s Clubs, vitamin stores and many more. The Naturade brand typically targets the mass audience (moms and pops of the world).
The KNS line targets athletes.
Why does it matter? Well, is there a more efficient way to introduce leading edge, proprietary, nutritional formulas into your “everyday” product line than to take it from a sister product line that already produces supplements for world class athletes.
Congratulations to Milos Sarcev, who in recent years has successfully fought an indictment on steroid charges and deflected controversy from his association with the BALCO scandal.
