2026年7月30日16:51 美国东部时间 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
印第安纳州南本德——一名联邦法官周四判处一家肽类公司的所有者近六年监禁，法官认定该所有者通过欺骗客户、销售掺杂类固醇的产品建立了庞大的商业帝国。
经营Paradigm Peptides公司的马修·川崎（Matthew Kawa）去年已对销售未经批准的药物及从国外非法进口药品的指控认罪。此次判决对于这类标注“仅供研究使用”的肽类产品卖家而言是罕见的刑事处罚——这个基本不受监管的市场，已成为许多不愿通过正规医疗渠道寻求健康改善方式的人的首选。
“你只专注于自己想要打造的商业，却从未考虑过受害者，”美国地区法院法官克里斯塔尔·布里斯科（Cristal Brisco）在判处川崎70个月监禁时表示，补充道川崎无视监管机构的“多次警告”，留下了“惊人的伤害链条”。
检察官估算，Paradigm Peptides在美国50个州及全球80个国家拥有5.4万名独特客户。现年48岁的川崎同意没收该业务带来的500万美元非法所得。
身着灰色西装的川崎承认，Paradigm的客户曾信任他对公司产品的虚假陈述。
“我对辜负了这份信任深感抱歉，”他在法庭上说，“我本应提出更多质疑，确保我们的行为符合法律规定。”宣判结束后，川崎拒绝向哥伦比亚广播公司新闻置评。
马修·川崎经营Paradigm Peptides期间，因销售未经批准的药物及非法进口药品认罪。哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
Paradigm Peptides于2024年3月被关停前，与如今互联网上的许多供应商看起来并无二致：宣传其产品为美国制造、纯度达99%、经第三方实验室检测——并附带“仅供研究使用”的免责声明。但检察官表示，其业务完全建立在谎言之上。
法庭文件显示，Paradigm从中国、印度及其他国家进口产品。川崎承认，他们伪造实验室证书以提升肽类产品的可信度。检察官称，当政府对六种旨在模拟睾酮效果的化合物进行检测时，发现所有样品均含有实际的睾酮——这种类固醇激素因其使用风险受到严格监管。
多年来，Paradigm一直声称其产品仅用于研究，但川崎在认罪协议中承认这是虚假陈述。“我清楚Paradigm的产品正被营销并销售供人类食用，”其认罪协议中写道。
布里斯科法官同时判处川崎32岁的妹妹詹妮弗·斯特奇科伯（Jennifer Stechkober）16个月监禁，她同样已认罪，是Paradigm的主要员工。法官认定她“并非主谋”，但在Paradigm的业务及虚假宣传中“扮演了不可或缺的角色”。
“这些人将被依法追责，”印第安纳州北区联邦检察官亚当·米尔德雷德（Adam Mildred）在采访中表示，“希望这能起到威慑作用，向公众传递这种行为不可接受的信号。”
肽类是氨基酸链，可向身体传递一系列指令——储存或燃烧能量、释放更多激素——在希望减肥、增肌甚至延长寿命的人群中广受欢迎。尽管未获美国食品药品监督管理局（FDA）批准，这类化合物正日益主流化，执业医生会开具相关处方，甚至纽约的便利店也开始涉足这一领域。
“我希望这能给其他众多‘仅供研究使用’的公司敲响警钟，因为这次是实实在在的监禁，而非仅仅停止销售或轻微处罚，”创办精品医疗律所的律师戴维·霍尔特（David Holt）说道，“这完全是两码事。”
被摧毁的人生
除肽类产品外，Paradigm还销售名为SARMs（选择性雄激素受体调节剂）的产品，这类物质有助于增肌，但FDA警告称其存在一系列危险副作用，包括增加心脏病发作风险乃至引发精神病。
Paradigm将其SARMs标注为膳食补充剂，这让丹·墨菲（Dan Murphy）这类客户觉得产品必然安全。
“这和服用维生素D没什么不同，”32岁的营销顾问墨菲在采访中说道。
墨菲2023年开始从Paradigm购买SARMs。他信奉替代疗法和整体医学，对肽类供应商推崇的生物黑客理念深信不疑——包括Paradigm在内的供应商都会在产品上加上“仅供研究使用”的免责声明。当时他刚减重不少，正寻找有助于增肌的补充剂。
“开始服用产品后，我立刻感到精力提升，”他说，“对此我非常满意。”
墨菲发现自己能比以往更用力地锻炼，开始痴迷于健身。但连续数月服用Paradigm的SARMs后，他开始出现睡眠问题，商业判断力变得浮夸，背部长出严重的囊肿性痤疮，穿衣都感到疼痛。
他开始怀疑妻子合谋阻碍自己，还偏执地认为岳母要杀他。墨菲此前从未有过精神疾病史，他作证称自己并未意识到出了什么问题，逐渐与现实脱节，多次产生自杀念头。
“我失去了朋友、家人、同事和客户，险些丢掉性命，”墨菲说，“我当时与现实完全脱节，根本没意识到是补充剂导致了这一切。”
丹·墨菲与妻子劳拉合影，他因Paradigm Peptides销售的SARMs产品起诉该公司，称产品检测出睾酮成分。墨菲家庭供图
2025年2月，他收到美国司法部主题为“对paradigmpeptides.com的联邦调查”的信件时，正处于人生低谷。调查人员认定，Paradigm多款宣传为SARMs的产品“实际上含有睾酮”。
起初墨菲以为这是骗局，但很快这封信成为解开他遭遇的关键：他不是疯子，他只是受害者。
“那一刻我恍然大悟，”墨菲说。
墨菲和妻子劳拉找到一瓶他订购的SARMs，送至独立实验室检测。据墨菲及法庭记录显示，检测结果呈睾酮阳性。
在认罪协议中，川崎称“从未对公司销售给客户的SARMs产品进行检测”。根据检察官提交的备忘录，川崎称自己不知道产品中含有睾酮，检察官则认为，未进行检测“恰恰证明了其行为的鲁莽”。
最终，医学专家埃里克·梅萨莫尔（Erik Messamore）对墨菲进行评估，诊断他患上了“类固醇诱导性精神病”。墨菲聘请律师起诉Paradigm Peptides，川崎正对该诉讼提出抗辩。
“一场打地鼠游戏”
检察官希望此次判决能遏制蓬勃发展的肽类行业内其他从业者效仿此类行为，但法律专家表示，实际效果仍有待观察。美国最高卫生官员小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪（Robert F. Kennedy Jr.）曾多次提及肽类的益处，并敦促FDA向消费者扩大其使用范围。
就在上周，该机构的一个独立咨询委员会不顾机构工作人员的反对，建议扩大六种肽类的使用范围。其中一种名为BPC-157的肽类，正是川崎被指控销售的未经批准药物之一。
“你在播客上听到卫生与公众服务部部长谈论肽类，谈论希望扩大消费者可及性，”前FDA律师、联邦检察官乔治·卡拉韦措斯（George Karavetsos）说道。他表示，起诉不良行为者“就像一场打地鼠游戏”。
即便Paradigm的网站下线后，类似名称的网站如雨后春笋般涌现，销售同样的产品，有时甚至使用相同的标签。其中一家名为paradigmpeptides.is的网站，同样宣传“美国本土研发级肽类”，“经独立验证纯度达99%以上”。其网站上展示的瓶子，使用的字体、颜色和设计似乎与川崎的公司如出一辙。
“我们想明确说明，我们与此前的Paradigm Peptides网站、前所有者马修·川崎及其任何相关业务均无任何关联，”该公司在电子邮件回复中表示。邮件称，该公司“未意识到某些设计元素可能被认为与此前Paradigm Peptides使用的相似”，并补充道，“如果我们的标签或品牌任何方面引起担忧，我们完全愿意重新设计并更换。”
Judge sentences peptide vendor to nearly 6 years in prison for “an incredible trail of harm”
2026-07-30T16:51:00-0400 / CBS News
SOUTH BEND, Ind.– A federal judge on Thursday sentenced the owner of a peptide company to nearly six years in prison after finding he built a massive business by deceiving customers and selling products that were adulterated with steroids.
Matthew Kawa, who ran Paradigm Peptides, pleaded guilty last year to selling unapproved drugs and illegally importing them from abroad. His sentence marks a rare criminal penalty for a seller of peptides that are labeled “for research use,” a largely unregulated marketplace that has become a go-to source for many people who look beyond established medical channels for ways to boost their health.
“You focused on what you wanted to build instead of thinking about the people,” U.S. District Court Judge Cristal Brisco said in sentencing Kawa to 70 months in prison, adding that Kawa ignored “numerous warnings” from regulators and left “an incredible trail of harm.”
Prosecutors estimated that Paradigm had 54,000 unique customers in all 50 U.S. states and in 80 countries. Kawa, 48, agreed to forfeit $5 million in proceeds from the business.
Kawa, wearing a gray suit, acknowledged that Paradigm’s customers relied on his false statements about the company’s products.
“I’m deeply sorry I betrayed that trust,” he told the court. “I should have asked harder questions and made sure what we did followed the law.” Kawa declined to comment to CBS News after the sentencing.
Matthew Kawa, who ran Paradigm Peptides, pleaded guilty to selling unapproved drugs and illegally importing them from abroad. CBS News
Before it was shut down in March 2024, Paradigm Peptides looked like many vendors on the internet today: advertising its offerings as made in America, of 99% purity, tested by third-party labs — and with the disclaimer that they were “for research use only.” But its business, prosecutors say, was built on lies.
Paradigm imported its products from China, India and other countries, court filings show. Kawa admitted they forged laboratory certificates to lend credibility to their peptides. And when the government tested six compounds designed to mimic the effects of testosterone, prosecutors said that all of them contained actual testosterone — a steroid hormone subject to strict regulation because of the risks involved in taking it.
For years, Paradigm maintained that its products were only for research use, but Kawa admitted in his guilty plea that this was false. “I knew that Paradigm’s products were being marketed and sold for human consumption,” his plea deal states.
Brisco also sentenced Jennifer Stechkober, Kawa’s 32-year-old sister and main employee at Paradigm, to 16 months in prison after she too pleaded guilty. The judge found she was “not the mastermind” but “played an integral role” in Paradigm’s business and false statements.
“These individuals are taken out of circulation,” Adam Mildred, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Indiana, said in an interview. “Hopefully this sends a deterrent message that this sort of behavior is not acceptable, to be lying to the American public.”
Peptides are chains of amino acids that deliver a set of instructions to the body — to store or burn energy, or to release more of a hormone — that have become wildly popular with people hoping to lose weight, gain muscle or even live longer. Such compounds are increasingly migrating into mainstream use despite a lack of FDA approval, with licensed physicians prescribing them and even New York bodegas getting in on the action.
“I would hope it’s a wake-up call for a lot of the other research-use-only companies out there because this is actual prison time, not just maybe a cease-and-desist or slap on the wrist,” said David Holt, an attorney who founded a boutique healthcare law practice. “That’s a whole different world.”
A life disrupted
In addition to peptides, Paradigm also sold products known as SARMs — or selective androgen receptor modulators — which can help build muscle but also come with a range of dangerous side effects, from elevating the risk of heart attacks to psychosis, the FDA has warned.
Paradigm labeled its SARMs as dietary supplements, and that made some customers, like Dan Murphy, comfortable that they must be safe.
“It’d be no different than taking vitamin D,” Murphy, a 32-year-old marketing consultant, said in an interview.
Murphy started taking SARMs from Paradigm in 2023. He was a believer in alternative, holistic medicine and comfortable with the biohacking ethos promoted by peptide vendors that, like Paradigm, tacked on a research-use disclaimer to their products. He had recently lost a lot of weight and was looking for a supplement to help build muscle.
“When I started taking the product, right away I felt an increase in energy,” he said. “I was really happy with that.”
Murphy found he could push his body more than ever before and began working out obsessively, he recalled. But as he took more SARMs from Paradigm over several months, he began having trouble sleeping. His sense of his business acumen became grandiose. He developed cystic acne on his back so acute that it was painful to put on a shirt.
He began suspecting his wife was conspiring to hold him back, and became paranoid that his mother-in-law was going to kill him, he said. Murphy had never before experienced mental illness and testified he didn’t recognize what was happening as he lost touch with reality and repeatedly thought about killing himself, he said.
“I lost friends, family, colleagues, clients and almost lost my life,” Murphy said. “I had gotten so detached from reality that I could not make any connection to the supplements as the cause.”
Dan Murphy, seen here with his wife Laura, is suing Paradigm Peptides over SARMs that he says tested positive for testosterone. Courtesy of Murphy family
He was at a low point when, in February of 2025, he received a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice with the subject line: “Federal Investigation of paradigmpeptides.com.” Investigators had determined that many of Paradigm’s products that were marketed as SARMs “in fact contained testosterone.”
Initially Murphy thought it might be a scam. But soon, it became his Rosetta stone for understanding what had happened to him: He wasn’t a monster, he thought. He was a victim.
“It was this lightning rod of clarity,” Murphy said.
Murphy and his wife, Laura, found a bottle of a SARM he had ordered and had it tested by an independent lab. It came back positive for testosterone, according to Murphy and court records.
In his guilty plea, Kawa said he “did not test the SARM products that my business sold to customers.” He didn’t know that they contained testosterone, according to a memo by prosecutors, who argued that the lack of testing “demonstrates the recklessness” of his actions.
Murphy was ultimately evaluated by a medical expert, Erik Messamore, who diagnosed him with “steroid-induced psychosis.” Murphy hired a lawyer and is suing Paradigm Peptides, which Kawa is contesting.
“A game of whack-a-mole”
Prosecutors hope that the sentence will deter others involved in the booming peptide industry from similar conduct, but legal experts say the impact remains to be seen. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s top health official, has talked up the benefits of peptides and urged the FDA to make them more widely available to consumers.
Just last week, an independent advisory committee to the agency recommended — over the objections of agency staff — to broaden access to six peptides. One of them, BPC-157, was among the unapproved drugs that Kawa was charged with selling.
“You go on these podcasts and listen to the secretary of Health and Human Services talk about peptides and wanting to expand availability to consumers,” George Karavetsos, a former FDA lawyer and federal prosecutor, said. Prosecuting bad actors, he said, is “a game of whack-a-mole.”
Even after Paradigm’s website went offline, similarly named websites have sprung up to offer the same products, sometimes with the same labels. One such site, paradigmpeptides.is, also promotes “research-grade peptides in the USA” that are “independently verified to 99%+” purity. The bottles featured on its site use what appears to be the same font, colors and design as Kawa’s company.
“We would like to clarify that we have no affiliation whatsoever with the previous Paradigm Peptides website, its former owner Matthew Kawa, or any related business,” the company said in an emailed response. The email stated that the company was “not aware that certain design elements could be perceived as resembling those used by the previous Paradigm Peptides,” adding “if any aspect of our labels or branding creates concern, we are fully willing to redesign and replace them.”
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