BAY CITY, Mich. – A Texas woman faces federal charges in Michigan for allegedly selling a toxic diet pill online to residents in the state’s Saginaw and Washtenaw counties.
Judith Holloway was indicted by a grand jury on five counts of introduction of a new drug into interstate commerce and seven counts of introduction of a misbranded drug into interstate commerce, The Bay City Times reported.
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The indictment accuses her of obtaining the drug DNP, also known as 2, 4-dinitrophenol, from suppliers and profiting from its sale. DNP has never been approved as safe for human consumption, is highly toxic, and may cause adverse health effects such as dehydration, cataracts, liver damage, and death, the indictment states.
In 1938, the Food and Drug Administration declared DNP to be extremely dangerous.
Federal prosecutors allege that Holloway ran a website and used eBay to sell DNP, which she falsely labeled as a “pigment powder.” When eBay removed her listings for violations, Holloway allegedly relisted the drug as for sale under the same false label.
The sales began as early as October 2018, and at least some of her customers were in Saginaw and Washtenaw counties, court records state.
Holloway appeared remotely from Texas on Dec. 17 before a U.S. District Court magistrate judge in Michigan who granted Holloway a $10,000 unsecured bond and said she would be supervised out of Fort Worth, Texas.
Her trial is set for April 20 before a federal judge in Bay City, Michigan.