Hulk Body Labs Busted - Operation Cyber Juice

[Millard]

I read on reddit hulk body was one of them

Catching up on court proceedings of the Hulk Body case as part of Operation Cyber Juice. The DEA pulled out all the stops to bust Hulk Body Labs in a 3 year investigation that included:

"Investigative techniques included witness and defendant interviews, surveillance, vehicle trackers, phone pings, pen registers, toll analysis, text message search warrants, email search warrants, package search warrants, property search warrants, trash pulls, pole cameras, IP address exploitation, administrative subpoenas, grand jury subpoenas, Fusion Center information, undercover purchases, hand to hand purchases, Postal Service surveillance and investigative techniques, computer forensic examinations, and internet purchases. The agents completed a very extensive analysis of thousands of financial records in order to establish the extent of the criminal money laundering."​

The war on steroids is alive and well...

 

[Millard]

In case anyone wondered what is a "Fusion Center" -- yes, I did too -- the following is a description from the Department of Homeland Security website:

"To prevent acts of terrorism on American soil, we must enlist all of our intelligence, law enforcement, and homeland security capabilities. We will continue to integrate and leverage state and major urban area fusion centers that have the capability to share classified information"- National Security Strategy (May 2010)

--

"A fusion center is a collaborative effort of two or more agencies that provide resources, expertise and information to the center with the goal of maximizing their ability to detect, prevent, investigate, and respond to criminal and terrorist activity."

- Baseline Capabilities for State and Major Urban Area Fusion Centers (October 2008)

--​

Fusion Center Locations and Contact Information

State and major urban area fusion centers (fusion centers) are owned and operated by state and local entities, and are designated by the governor of their state.

In accordance with the Federal Resource Allocation Criteria (RAC) policy (PDF, 144 KB, 4 pages), which defines objective criteria and a coordinated approach for prioritizing federal resource allocation to fusion centers, the federal government recognizes these designations and has a shared responsibility with state and local governments to support the national network of fusion centers.

There are two types of fusion centers:

• Primary Fusion Centers: A primary fusion center typically provides information sharing and analysis for an entire state. These centers are the highest priority for the allocation of available federal resources, including the deployment of personnel and connectivity with federal data systems.
• Recognized Fusion Centers: A recognized fusion center typically provides information sharing and analysis for a major urban area. As the Federal Government respects the authority of state governments to designate fusion centers, any designated fusion center not designated as a primary fusion center is referred to as a recognized fusion center.

We can all take comfort with the knowledge that the federal government is using tools designed with national security and terrorism prevention in mind to pursue its war on steroids.

 

[ronin17]

Catching up on court proceedings of the Hulk Body case. The DEA pulled out all the stops to bust Hulk Body Labs in a 3 year investigation that included:

"Investigative techniques included witness and defendant interviews, surveillance, vehicle trackers, phone pings, pen registers, toll analysis, text message search warrants, email search warrants, package search warrants, property search warrants, trash pulls, pole cameras, IP address exploitation, administrative subpoenas, grand jury subpoenas, Fusion Center information, undercover purchases, hand to hand purchases, Postal Service surveillance and investigative techniques, computer forensic examinations, and internet purchases. The agents completed a very extensive analysis of thousands of financial records in order to establish the extent of the criminal money laundering."​

The war on steroids is alive and well...

Waste of resources anyone?

 

[Millard]

Joel Pasternak, the founder and ringleader of Hulk Body labs, was sentenced to 108-months in prison...

 

[Millard]

Joel Pasternak operated 5 UGLs (including Hulkbody) and generated $2,800,770.02 in revenues between 2012 and September 30, 2015.

“Joel Pasternak was the creator and director of the conspiracy, which involved at least twenty-two individuals, five clandestine steroid labs, more than $2.8 million in criminally derived proceed and literally thousands of transactions,” court documents stated. “Pasternak used individuals at every level and segment of the organization, including four members of his family, four young men who have known him since middle school, girlfriends, acquaintances and complete strangers he met through he internet.”
​

 

[DrinkFlintWater]

The entire family was running this UGL? Even mom was involved? Lol...i can only imagine if i called my mom one day and said "hey mom, i got an idea..."

 

[Millard]

The entire family was running this UGL? Even mom was involved? Lol...i can only imagine if i called my mom one day and said "hey mom, i got an idea..."

Yes. Joel Pasternak recruited his entire family - his parents and two brothers. His father Edward Pasternak was Hulkbody's "banker" while his day job was pastor at the Life and Praise Worship Center in Newport.

Hulk Body paid a 10% "tithe" to Life and Praise Worship in exchange for father helping him out.

A former Newport pastor and four members of his family are among 22 defendants in a major federal steroid conspiracy investigation centered in East Tennessee.

Edward Pasternak, 59, former pastor of Life and Praise Worship Center in the Western Plaza, and his wife, Lori Pasternak, 52, along with their sons, Joel Pasternak, 28; Jared Pasternak, 23; and Joshua Pasternak, 32, have pleaded guilty to the federal indictment.

[...]

Pasternak’s parents, Edward and Lori, purchased properties which were converted to clandestine steroid labs and concealed their son’s ownership of the properties. Edward Pasternak also was an organizer and manager of persons involved in the conspiracy and acted as the scheme’s banker, holding large sums of cash for the organization.​

Source: Former Newport pastor, family guilty in international steroid conspiracy

 

[Millard]

Interesting things about Eroids that Hulk Body (Joel Pasternak) told IRS Special Agent Jimmy Cline, DEA Financial Investigator Karl Oroz, DEA Special Agent Tracy Bishop and DEA Task Force Officer Vince Walters:

• Hulk Body paid $1000 per month to Eroids for top placement.
  
  
• Next Day Gear owns Eroids. "In order to shutdown Eroids, you must shut down NDG as well because they are one in the same."
  
  
  
• Next Day Gear / Eroids created false IDs for Hulk Body money receivers: "NDG made false ID's, but they were not very good. PASTERNAK had NDG make approximately six of these ID's and PASTERNAK provided all of these to JENKINS. PASTERNAK clarified that all of the money receivers had fake ID's in order to assist with picking up the money."
  
  
  
• Hulk Body paid Next Day Gear / Eroids a fee of 5% of sales to run and maintain Hulk Body websites.
  
  

Other things Joel Pasternak told the DEA:

• Anabolic Body --> Banner Body --> Hulk Body
• Hulk Body bought its steroid powder from Wayne Ji in China (repackaged as "laundry detergent with clothes inside the boxes".
• Big D UGL was a customer and apparently paid Pasternak in Bitcoin.
• Pasternak paid Next Day Gear in Bitcoin
• Angus tested Hulk Body products
• Beaker Brew test Hulk Body products
• Black Label Labs UGL(Chris Jones) was a money receiver for Hulk Body
• Hulk Body's clandestine UGL was located in a house on Millard Street.

 

[Millard]

Sentences thus far for co-defendants / co-conspirators in Hulk Body UGL:



UPDATE: Joel Pasternak: 108-months prison

 

[Rockclimber]

Holy shit. That's amazing, good for him, should have quit 2 years earlier... You can get away with a lot for a little bit.

 

[Millard]

Holy shit. That's amazing, good for him, should have quit 2 years earlier... You can get away with a lot for a little bit.

The DEA / DHS / IRS had been investigating Hulk Body for almost 3 years (since late 2012) before they shut it down. The feds were literally watching him for years before they busted him.

 

[tenpoundsleft]

The DEA / DHS / IRS had been investigating Hulk Body for almost 3 years (since late 2012) before they shut it down. The feds were literally watching him for years before they busted him.

They want big numbers, that's all it's about.

Disgusting racket, the feds. Especially their "fusion" approach - and feds have no business operating at the state level, that's an overreach, but these days what isn't?

What happened to the old legal principle "no harm, no crime"?

 

[MisterSuperGod]

i wonder how many millions of dollars it took to bust up this operation worth 2.5 million?

Money well spent, huh?

Now, thanks to this Herculean effort by the federal government, Eroids is shut down and there is no longer such a thing as an underground lab. They finally won the war on steroids...

Oh, wait, none of that happened. Yep, money well spent.

 

[master.on]

Joel Pasternak operated 5 UGLs (including Hulkbody) and generated $2,800,770.02 in revenues between 2012 and September 30, 2015.

“Joel Pasternak was the creator and director of the conspiracy, which involved at least twenty-two individuals, five clandestine steroid labs, more than $2.8 million in criminally derived proceed and literally thousands of transactions,” court documents stated. “Pasternak used individuals at every level and segment of the organization, including four members of his family, four young men who have known him since middle school, girlfriends, acquaintances and complete strangers he met through he internet.”
​

View attachment 76270

View attachment 76231

View attachment 76232

Were they receiving Western Union DOMESTICALLY?
If so no wonder why they all got caught, even with fake IDs.

Also, the flowchart suggests they were using the Postal Service to send cash among themselves?

The entire family was running this UGL? Even mom was involved? Lol...i can only imagine if i called my mom one day and said "hey mom, i got an idea..."

It's worse than that, he was a former pastor.
Former Newport pastor, family guilty in international steroid conspiracy
Any BBing loosely related bible quotes he may use as a "religion made me do it" argument in court?

Interesting things about Eroids that Hulk Body (Joel Pasternak) told IRS Special Agent Jimmy Cline, DEA Financial Investigator Karl Oroz, DEA Special Agent Tracy Bishop and DEA Task Force Officer Vince Walters:

• Hulk Body paid $1000 per month to Eroids for top placement.
  View attachment 76251
  
• Next Day Gear owns Eroids. "In order to shutdown Eroids, you must shut down NDG as well because they are one in the same."
  View attachment 76255
  
  
• Next Day Gear / Eroids created false IDs for Hulk Body money receivers: "NDG made false ID's, but they were not very good. PASTERNAK had NDG make approximately six of these ID's and PASTERNAK provided all of these to JENKINS. PASTERNAK clarified that all of the money receivers had fake ID's in order to assist with picking up the money."
  View attachment 76249
  
  
• Hulk Body paid Next Day Gear / Eroids a fee of 5% of sales to run and maintain Hulk Body websites.
  View attachment 76250
  View attachment 76252

Other things Joel Pasternak told the DEA:

• Anabolic Body --> Banner Body --> Hulk Body
• Hulk Body bought its steroid powder from Wayne Ji in China (repackaged as "laundry detergent with clothes inside the boxes".
• Big D UGL was a customer and apparently paid Pasternak in Bitcoin.
• Pasternak paid Next Day Gear in Bitcoin
• Angus tested Hulk Body products
• Beaker Brew test Hulk Body products
• Black Label Labs UGL(Chris Jones) was a money receiver for Hulk Body
• Hulk Body's clandestine UGL was located in a house on Millard Street.

1 Is Eroids site safe from shutdown?
(if they're hosted in china or something)

2 Do you think Feds were able to decrypt Bitcoin transactions trace themselves (before they snitched)?

i wonder how many millions of dollars it took to bust up this operation worth 2.5 million?

Money well spent, huh?

Now, thanks to this Herculean effort by the federal government, Eroids is shut down and there is no longer such a thing as an underground lab. They finally won the war on steroids...

Oh, wait, none of that happened. Yep, money well spent.

If they get to shutdown Eroids it's money well spent IMO.

They want big numbers, that's all it's about.

Disgusting racket, the feds. Especially their "fusion" approach - and feds have no business operating at the state level, that's an overreach, but these days what isn't?

What happened to the old legal principle "no harm, no crime"?

Media PC culture not helping with no-harm perception
Steroid thug blinded Bristol restaurant owner with punch | Daily Mail Online

 

[Millard]

Interesting things about Eroids that Hulk Body (Joel Pasternak) told IRS Special Agent Jimmy Cline, DEA Financial Investigator Karl Oroz, DEA Special Agent Tracy Bishop and DEA Task Force Officer Vince Walters on July 7, 2015 and July 9, 2015

Rats. Pathetic. Hope dudes head is on a swivel until the end View attachment 76277

It's worse than that, he was a former pastor.
Former Newport pastor, family guilty in international steroid conspiracy
Any BBing loosely related bible quotes he may use as a "religion made me do it" argument in court?

The father's and mother's (Edward and Lori Pasternak) defense was that they didn't benefit financially from their participation in their son's steroid business because they asked their son to pay tithing to their church (Life and Praise Worship Center) instead of direct compensation. So, they essentially said they were doing to further their religion.

Perhaps even worse is that they totally threw their son (Joel Pasternak) under the bus to save their own asses. Not only did they emphasize their son's substantial role in Hulk Body in order to minimize theirs, they essentially told the entire world that their son ratted out everybody.

If it weren't for the fact that Edward and Lori Pasternak attached the "IRS Criminal Investigation Memorandum of Interview" with Joel Pasternak to their own sentencing memorandum, we never would have known that Joel Pasternak ratted out so many people. The details of the interview would have likely remained sealed. Now, it's a matter of public record.

 

[ickyrica]

The father's and mother's (Edward and Lori Pasternak) defense was that they didn't benefit financially from their participation in their son's steroid business because they asked their son to pay tithing to their church (Life and Praise Worship Center) instead of direct compensation. So, they essentially said they were doing to further their religion.

Perhaps even worse is that they totally threw their son (Joel Pasternak) under the bus to save their own asses. Not only did they emphasize their son's substantial role in Hulk Body in order to minimize theirs, they essentially told the entire world that their son ratted out everybody.

If it weren't for the fact that Edward and Lori Pasternak attached the "IRS Criminal Investigation Memorandum of Interview" with Joel Pasternak to their own sentencing memorandum, we never would have known that Joel Pasternak ratted out so many people. The details of the interview would have likely remained sealed. Now, it's a matter of public record.

Family first Millard. Christmas time should be good this year

 

[master.on]

The father's and mother's (Edward and Lori Pasternak) defense was that they didn't benefit financially from their participation in their son's steroid business because they asked their son to pay tithing to their church (Life and Praise Worship Center) instead of direct compensation. So, they essentially said they were doing to further their religion.

Perhaps even worse is that they totally threw their son (Joel Pasternak) under the bus to save their own asses. Not only did they emphasize their son's substantial role in Hulk Body in order to minimize theirs, they essentially told the entire world that their son ratted out everybody.

If it weren't for the fact that Edward and Lori Pasternak attached the "IRS Criminal Investigation Memorandum of Interview" with Joel Pasternak to their own sentencing memorandum, we never would have known that Joel Pasternak ratted out so many people. The details of the interview would have likely remained sealed. Now, it's a matter of public record.

Some interesting points. Sorry for the long list.

1 Wasn't CYBER JUICE op name already used? Are they recycling old ops or it's a permanent one?

2 Just for information/entertainment, not encouraging/condoning to break any laws
In retrospect they could have "donated" all money to the church, then use the church assets as collateral to buy a big house or something.
Feds are never going to seize a church for shady donations, do they?

3 The church could reach a deal that ends with a front sign
'Cops pay no admission fees'

4 Ratting out? Doesn't the bible instruct to tell the truth at all times?
lol

5 Eroids getting payments for top placement may not be prosecutable, especially if Eroids is hosted abroad
but NDG/Eroids making fake IDs and handing them over to HulkBL? Jesus

6 Is Next Day Gear domestic?
If they are and don't take the money and run, they are the biggest idiots on earth
Now they're totally on DEA radar, all red and blinking.
(be clear I'm not encouraging illegal activities)

7 Is Eroids suppressing/deleting all NDG related talk?

8 71 steroid kilos were seized
Former Newport pastor, family guilty in international steroid conspiracy
$2.8M? If every vial gave them an $50 average profit that's 56,000 vials!

9 Mum and Dad involved?
Dumb meets dumber
We thought it couldn't get any dumber then musclehead320
We were proved wrong.

 

[Thaistick]

Having had the privilege of going through the Fed I'd like to make a couple of points, keeping in mind that I don't have any more knowledge of the specifics of this case than you. Where you speak of the parents throwing the kid under the bus I'd almost guarantee that he told them to do that. I would. And I've seen it a few times as well. Why should my parents spend what might be their last few years in prison. I know they're not all that old but it's not a chance I'd take. He should take the fall, it was his thing. As far as people talking shit about snitches I think it's hilarious. I got 70 months originally for cannabis. I didn't have the option of cooperating because of who I was dealing with. Yeah I could have rolled on my brother in law but I never considered that. Besides him being like a brother he had already done a few years in the state when he could have just said my name. There's a saying in the Fed, "There's 3 types of convicts, the ones who snitched, the ones who are snitching, and the ones that wished they snitched. Do you really think that a guy you never met is going to stand up and do any time for you? People cooperate to not spend a month in jail. They cooperate just to not get probation. The day of the gangster has passed. There's certain demographics that are less likely to cooperate but I don't include soft white boys in that category. Also, with the degree of cooperation he gave the Feds I expect he will get a rule 35 downward departure, they often sit on a judge's desk for 5-6 years waiting to be signed. Then you're suddenly out on the street with no warning. They could also not give him any credit if they decide that he didn't give them anything of value. But I doubt that will happen because they know that if they don't follow through on deals to some extent then people won't cooperate in the future. I also noticed that his attorney was experienced enough to make sure he gets in the drug program. That can knock off almost a quarter of the existing sentence.

The father's and mother's (Edward and Lori Pasternak) defense was that they didn't benefit financially from their participation in their son's steroid business because they asked their son to pay tithing to their church (Life and Praise Worship Center) instead of direct compensation. So, they essentially said they were doing to further their religion.

Perhaps even worse is that they totally threw their son (Joel Pasternak) under the bus to save their own asses. Not only did they emphasize their son's substantial role in Hulk Body in order to minimize theirs, they essentially told the entire world that their son ratted out everybody.

If it weren't for the fact that Edward and Lori Pasternak attached the "IRS Criminal Investigation Memorandum of Interview" with Joel Pasternak to their own sentencing memorandum, we never would have known that Joel Pasternak ratted out so many people. The details of the interview would have likely remained sealed. Now, it's a matter of public record.

 

[Millard]

Sentences thus far for co-defendants / co-conspirators in Hulk Body UGL:

View attachment 76267

UPDATE: Joel Pasternak: 108-months prison

Family first Millard. Christmas time should be good this year

The rest of the Pasternak family has now been sentenced for their respective roles in the Hulk Body Labs UGL:

Joel Pasternak: 108-month prison term
Edward Pasternak: 36-month prison term
Lori Pasternak: 12-month and 1-day prison term
Jared Pasternak: 5-years probation
Joshua Pasternak: 5-years probation

Source: Remaining family members in international steroid plot sentenced

 

[ickyrica]

The rest of the Pasternak family has now been sentenced for their respective roles in the Hulk Body Labs UGL:

Joel Pasternak: 108-month prison term
Edward Pasternak: 36-month prison term
Lori Pasternak: 12-month and 1-day prison term
Jared Pasternak: 5-years probation
Joshua Pasternak: 5-years probation

Source: Remaining family members in international steroid plot sentenced

Appreciate the update sir