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Pro Fighter Blames Supplements for Failed Drug Test

An Ultimate Fighting Championship competitor who was suspended for doping sued Vitamin Shoppe on Thursday, claiming it sold him dietary supplements that had been doctored with anabolic steroids.

MANHATTAN (CN) – An Ultimate Fighting Championship competitor who was suspended for doping sued Vitamin Shoppe on Thursday, claiming it sold him dietary supplements that had been doctored with anabolic steroids.

Mixed martial arts fighter Lyman Good, 32, alleges he bought the dietary supplement Anavite thinking it was clean of banned substances.

However, he says the diet pills were the culprit when he was suspended for testing positive for a steroid because they contained 1-androstenedione, a controlled substance similar to testosterone that is considered a steroid and has been banned from several U.S. sports since 2006, according to a lawsuit Good filed Thursday in New York County Supreme Court.

The 35-page complaint states that the manufacturer of the diet pill, defendant Gaspari Nutrition Inc., misled consumers by stating its product was safe from adulteration and failed to note the inclusion of 1-andro.

In addition to Gaspari Nutrition and Vitamin Shoppe, Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, Richard Gaspari and Gaspari and Hi-Tech CEO Jared Wheat are also named as defendants. Good is represented by David Fish in Garden City, N.Y.

“Defendants initiated and have continued this fraudulent scheme of adulteration and steroid distribution despite prior and ongoing lawsuits against them for similar conduct, as they appear to believe that this scheme is still profitable,” the lawsuit states.

On the market since 2010, Good says Anavite is marketed as a dietary supplement and “the ultimate performance multi-vitamin” intended for use by any “category bodybuilder, MMA athlete, or weekend warrior.”

However, Gaspari Nutrition does not disclose on its bottle that 1-andro is one of the ingredients in Anavite, the complaint states.

Good says he was suspended from the UFC two days after being checked for steroids in October 2016 when he tested positive for 1-andro.

The suspension was later reduced when a lab detected the steroid in an unopened bottle of Anavite, according to the complaint.

As a result of the suspension, however, Good missed out on a planned fight with Belal Muhammad at Madison Square Garden.

Good was the first-ever Bellator welterweight champion when he won the belt in 2009. He has been an MMA fighter since 2005 and has been under contract with the UFC since 2015.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency conducted its own analysis of Anavite and found it contained 1-andro.

The agency now warns athletes not to use it, noting that Gaspari Nutrition has received numerous warnings from the Food and Drug Administration since 2014 regarding claims that its products are adulterated with potentially dangerous ingredients.

In addition to damages for warranty and fraud claims, Good seeks an injunction against Gaspari Nutrition and Vitamin Shoppe to warn the public about the presence of 1-andro in Anavite.

Gaspari Nutrition filed for bankruptcy in 2014, and was acquired by Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals two years later. Its founder, Richard Gaspari, is a former bodybuilder.

Vitamin Shoppe spokeswoman Crystal Carroll declined Thursday to comment on the lawsuit.

A spokesperson for Hi-Tech did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

Good’s attorney, Fish, did not respond to an email request for comment.

Follow @NickRummell
Categories / Business, Consumers, Sports

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