The GoldLine Busted

[oldie59]

Feds to seek 10 years for, $6.5 million from North Attleboro steroid ring mastermind​

NORTH ATTLEBORO — Federal prosecutors are seeking a 121-month prison term and $6.5 million from a local man who led a multi-million dollar nationwide steroid distribution ring.

David M. Esser, 48, is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 10 in U.S. District Court in Providence by Chief Judge John McConnell Jr.

Esser pleaded guilty last March to importing raw steroids from China and sending them to “pharmacists” who “cooked” the product into liquid and pill form, according to prosecutors.

He advertised his business online and hired “a network of middlemen and women to work tirelessly for his personal financial gain” to mail thousands of steroid-loaded packages to customers in all 50 states, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed last Friday.

Even after he was busted in February 2020 and was freed on bond, prosecutors say he continued distributing steroids with the help of a man in Virginia.

The operation began about February 2015 and continued for 70 months until he was arrested the second time in December 2020, prosecutors said.

He has been held in federal custody at the Wyatt Detention Center in Central Falls since his arrest in December 2020.

Esser pleaded guilty last March to two counts of conspiracy to distribute steroids and one count of money laundering.

The $6.5 million the government is seeking represents the money prosecutors estimated Esser earned over 70 months as the mastermind of his steroid distribution empire.

It includes $214,000 for the value of nine properties Esser purchased in York, Pa., from steroid proceeds, according to the prosecution’s sentencing memorandum.

“With Esser’s business success inevitably came expensive tastes,” prosecutors wrote.

He purchased thousands of dollars of designer goods and sports cars, stayed in luxury hotels and was known to be a “big spender at strip clubs,” prosecutors wrote.

His plea agreement provides for the forfeiture of over $130,000 seized from bank accounts, four cars, $17,000 in cash and a $30,000 gold chain Esser purchased.

Among the cars were a 2017 Chevrolet Corvette and a 2016 BMW X6.

However, the government contends Esser has even more wealth in cryptocurrency and cash that prosecutors believe he moved to an off-shore account in Hong Kong which the government is still trying to access, according to the memo.

“Despite Esser’s obligation to disclose and forfeit his assets, he continues to seek to shield his wealth from the United States,” prosecutors wrote.

Underlings, who worked in his stash houses and mailed the steroids, were paid according to the amount of product they shipped, prosecutors said.

Esser even hired a marketing person to advertise the illegal steroids on exclusive online message boards, one of which he owned and managed, according to prosecutors.

During the 70 months of operation, the government estimates Esser distributed over 26,000 parcels at $250 each and even up to $650 per package, according to prosecutors.

He had addresses on Fisher Street, Oakhurst Street and an apartment on North Washington Street, which was used at one time as a safe house, according to authorities.

Esser continued to operate his business, according to prosecutors, even after his stash house was raided in 2018 and over 30 kilograms of steroids were seized.

After that raid, Esser apparently believed he was “untouchable” and rebuilt his business in a way he thought would avoid law enforcement’s attention, according to prosecutors.

Esser bragged to a co-conspirator “that he was able to restock his stash house by spending $35,000, and his business was back up and running shortly after the raid,” prosecutors wrote.

Esser’s ex-wife, Alison Shepard Esser, and James McLaughlin, both of North Attleboro, were sentenced to probation last year for their limited role in mailing steroids to customers, according to prosecutors.

A fourth defendant, Masson Nieves of Providence, pleaded guilty but was arrested again on unrelated drug charges. His case is pending.

Esser’s co-defendant in Virginia, Michael Lambert, was sentenced in October to nine years in prison and forfeited over $1.5 million, according to prosecutors.

Esser was supposed to be sentenced Wednesday but the proceeding was postponed at the request of the defense.

Esser’s lawyers have not yet filed their sentencing recommendation.

The judge is not bound by either the recommendations of the lawyers or sentencing guidelines.
https://www.thesunchronicle.com/news/local_news/feds-to-seek-10-years-for-6-5-million-from-north-attleboro-steroid-ring-mastermind/article_2d8904bc-08bb-5245-b561-724f9c563eb5.html (Feds to seek 10 years for, $6.5 million from North Attleboro steroid ring mastermind)

 

[gobig2]

Fucking ouch

 

[Red_subbottom]

His codefendant

Ringleader and Members of Multi-State Anabolic Steroid Trafficking Network Sentenced​

NORFOLK, Va. – Today, a Richmond man was the sixth and final defendant to be sentenced for his role in a multi-state anabolic steroid conspiracy that operated across the country.
According to court documents, Clyde Edward Peele, 46, is one of six members of a trafficking network, led by Michael Steven Lambert, 37, of Wilson County, North Carolina. Starting in 2018, Lambert and the five other members of the conspiracy manufactured and distributed anabolic steroids to customers across the country. They also worked together to hide and launder the proceeds of their illegal activities.
Lambert and his wife, Laura Lambert, 32, began this operation in their residence located in Wilson County. They used raw materials received from China to manufacture liquid and pill-form steroids for wholesale distribution. Lambert’s products were advertised on various underground internet forums and, with the assistance of his co-conspirators, the group shipped wholesale quantities of steroids through the U.S. Postal Service to various states for further distribution. The organization concealed its activities by using false names and identity information, encrypted messaging platforms, and crypto-currency accounts.
In 2018, North Carolina authorities arrested and charged Lambert with possession of anabolic steroids with the intent to distribute. Lambert was convicted and ordered to serve an active sentence in 2019. Rather than turn himself in to serve the sentence, Lambert adopted a new identity and moved the operation to Pennsylvania. Once there, the Lamberts and other co-conspirators resumed the distribution operation.
After the arrest of another co-conspirator, the Lamberts moved in with Adam Morin, 36, of Hanover County. Morin not only assisted in the manufacture of anabolic steroids, but he also manufactured silencers for weapons Lambert illegally possessed.
In early 2020, Lambert and his wife rented a residence in Surry County, where they established another massive anabolic steroid distribution operation. Peele worked for Lambert several days a week pressing powders into pills and shipping product to customers across the country. To avoid detection, Peele shipped packages using false names and from various postal branches in Surry County and Richmond.
Erik Eckert, 35, of Jacksonville, Florida, a Petty Officer with the U.S. Navy, and Hamdy Sayed, 37, of Katy, Texas, each received wholesale quantities of anabolic steroids from Lambert’s trafficking network and sold the steroids to others. Sayed also assisted the organization by collecting drug proceeds and funneling them through various cryptocurrency accounts and using drug proceeds to purchase luxury vehicles for the Lamberts to drive.
In total, Lambert manufactured and distributed tens of thousands of steroid units and admitted that he earned well over a million dollars in gross drug proceeds over the course of approximately two and a half years. The Lamberts used those proceeds to purchase luxury vehicles, jewelry, and a horse, among other items.
Today, Peele was sentenced to 5 years in prison for his role in the conspiracy. On September 7, Morin was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his role in the conspiracy. On September 23, Laura Lambert and Sayed were sentenced to 18 months and 3 months in prison respectively for their roles in the conspiracy. On October 12, Eckert was sentenced to time served, or approximately three months, in prison for his role in the conspiracy. Additionally, as a result of his involvement in this conspiracy, he will be discharged from the U.S. Navy.
On October 22 Lambert was sentenced to nine years in prison for his role in the conspiracy.

 

[Athlete127]

goldline was a POS

 

[Millard]

The government sentencing memorandum explains why they think Esser deserves a 10-year prison sentence and $6.5 million money judgment.

Here is an excerpt that summarizes the scope of his steroid business (according to prosecutors):

Spoiler: How big was Esser's steroid operation?

The following evidence supports the government’s request for a $6,510,000 money judgment: The time period of Esser’s criminal activity charged in the Information runs from February 3, 2015 through December 14, 2020 (70 months). United States Postal Service records show that Esser’s Click-N-Ship account, which allows a customer to create pre-paid Priority Mail shipping labels, generated 9,322 tracking numbers between January 1, 2018 and February 18, 2020 (the date before Esser’s first arrest). Of those packages, 9,306 bore fictitious sender/return address information in order to disguise themselves as legitimate packages and avoid law enforcement detection if intercepted.12 In that 25-month period (which is less than half of the 5-year conspiracy charged in Count One), Esser was responsible for distributing 9,306 steroids packages to customers in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.13 The government calculates the average number of steroid packages Esser mailed per month, therefore, to be 372.14 Extrapolated to the entire 70-month period, the total number of steroids packages is a staggering 26,040 parcels.

The United States estimates, conservatively, that Esser earned an average of $250 per package mailed. This is a conservative figure based on various forms of evidence from different periods of time. For example, the vast majority of the $1.3M deposits made to Esser’s bank account between a 16-month period (June 2018-October 2019) took the form of peer-to-peer payments via Zelle bank transfers. (Exhibit B at 75). These bank transfers are believed to be from Esser’s individual customers. Id. at 76–78. A snapshot of a one-month period, in June 2019, showed those individual deposits ranging from $210 to $1,245, with an average of $449 per order and a median of $345. Id. at 76–77.15 As another point of reference, when law enforcement seized Esser’s post office box in February 2020 upon his first arrest, fourteen packages arrived in the course of just one week—totaling $9,765 cash. This suggests an average of $698 per order. Various additional sources of evidence further support the conclusion that an average estimate of $250-per-steroids-order is conservative. Trash pulls at Esser’s home in 2019 uncovered drug ledgers with product pricing and a receipt for a $650 order. Id. At 32–36. Esser’s online advertising on the underground steroid forum BrotherhoodOfPain for his “GoldLine” product in April 2019 required a $200-minimum purchase, Id. at 62–66, and he indicated to undercover agents that he would not accept cash in the mail for “small” orders like their $200 order (incentivizing them to pay via Bitcoin for a discount). Id. at 66–67. Finally, having analyzed two of Esser’s known cryptocurrency accounts – which he failed to disclose – investigators determined the Bitcoin transactions in March-October 2020 to average $847 per individual order in one account, and transactions in October-November 2020 to average $470 per individual in another.16

Multiplying the estimated 26,040 steroids packages at $250 per order over the course of the charged time period, the government conservatively attributes $6,510,000 in drug proceeds to David Esser.

 

[hijoshiki]

David M. Esser couldn't have done more to get himself busted.

If you're running an operation you never buy shit, you drive a clean dependable boring vehicle. You live in a very modest house. You're clean cut. You don't fraternize with anyone, you keep to yourself, you don't go to the strip club and blow your wad like a dumbass.

Your first priority is to figure out where to stash your money so no one can find it. No banks, it has to be stashed as you need something when you get out of jail if you ever get busted as you're gonna be F'd.

Most importantly is to shut the business down every year and take one year off and come back with a complete restock and go balls out for a year and take another year off.

A smart person would never connect himself with this many people as you simply can't trust anyone in this business.

Once a man has a million he needs to bow out, destroy his past, retire and never look back.

 

[Villain]

David M. Esser couldn't have done more to get himself busted.

If you're running an operation you never buy shit, you drive a clean dependable boring vehicle. You live in a very modest house. You're clean cut. You don't fraternize with anyone, you keep to yourself, you don't go to the strip club and blow your wad like a dumbass.

Your first priority is to figure out where to stash your money so no one can find it. No banks, it has to be stashed as you need something when you get out of jail if you ever get busted as you're gonna be F'd.

Most importantly is to shut the business down every year and take one year off and come back with a complete restock and go balls out for a year and take another year off.

A smart person would never connect himself with this many people as you simply can't trust anyone in this business.

Once a man has a million he needs to bow out, destroy his past, retire and never look back.

Greed is a funny thing. Apparently it makes people think they’re invincible and untouchable.

 

[gobig2]

David M. Esser couldn't have done more to get himself busted.

If you're running an operation you never buy shit, you drive a clean dependable boring vehicle. You live in a very modest house. You're clean cut. You don't fraternize with anyone, you keep to yourself, you don't go to the strip club and blow your wad like a dumbass.

Your first priority is to figure out where to stash your money so no one can find it. No banks, it has to be stashed as you need something when you get out of jail if you ever get busted as you're gonna be F'd.

Most importantly is to shut the business down every year and take one year off and come back with a complete restock and go balls out for a year and take another year off.

A smart person would never connect himself with this many people as you simply can't trust anyone in this business.

Once a man has a million he needs to bow out, destroy his past, retire and never look back.

Hmmmm I can relate. Very nice read

 

[ripriot]

David M. Esser couldn't have done more to get himself busted.

If you're running an operation you never buy shit, you drive a clean dependable boring vehicle. You live in a very modest house. You're clean cut. You don't fraternize with anyone, you keep to yourself, you don't go to the strip club and blow your wad like a dumbass.

Your first priority is to figure out where to stash your money so no one can find it. No banks, it has to be stashed as you need something when you get out of jail if you ever get busted as you're gonna be F'd.

Most importantly is to shut the business down every year and take one year off and come back with a complete restock and go balls out for a year and take another year off.

A smart person would never connect himself with this many people as you simply can't trust anyone in this business.

Once a man has a million he needs to bow out, destroy his past, retire and never look back.

I guess you know more than the sources that have been around more then 10 years. You should wright an e-book and sell it online!!!

 

[hijoshiki]

I guess you know more than the sources that have been around more then 10 years. You should wright an e-book and sell it online!!!

No these idiots should get together and write a book on how they fucked up and are rotting in a jail cell for the next few years.

Anyone with an ounce of self preservation that enjoys the freedom to go where they want would never take the risks these guys took.

Remember TGI when he shot off his gun while he was drunk and the cops came and busted his home lab after they searched his house.

That's just how this happens.

It's not just personal knowledge that helps you stay out of trouble, it's you thinking about every action you take so you don't make mistakes. You don't need ten years for that, you only need ten seconds to realize you're fucking up.

When you buy multiple properties the government is notified. When you spend lots of money at a strip club there's lots of people watching you. When you buy fancy sports cars....once again the government is gonna know.

How do you stay under the radar......no family, friends, no partners, no transactions at the bank. You basically disappear off the face of the earth.

 

[gobig2]

Good post Mike. However if the feds want you the will get you.

 

[Villain]

Good post Mike. However if the feds want you the will get you.

Makes you wonder how they pick and choose who they’re going to nail. At any given moment, all they have to do is go to one of the sponsored boards or even here or SST and pick a source.

 

[malfeasance]

The government sentencing memorandum explains why they think Esser deserves a 10-year prison sentence and $6.5 million money judgment.

Here is an excerpt that summarizes the scope of his steroid business (according to prosecutors):

Spoiler: How big was Esser's steroid operation?

The following evidence supports the government’s request for a $6,510,000 money judgment: The time period of Esser’s criminal activity charged in the Information runs from February 3, 2015 through December 14, 2020 (70 months). United States Postal Service records show that Esser’s Click-N-Ship account, which allows a customer to create pre-paid Priority Mail shipping labels, generated 9,322 tracking numbers between January 1, 2018 and February 18, 2020 (the date before Esser’s first arrest). Of those packages, 9,306 bore fictitious sender/return address information in order to disguise themselves as legitimate packages and avoid law enforcement detection if intercepted.12 In that 25-month period (which is less than half of the 5-year conspiracy charged in Count One), Esser was responsible for distributing 9,306 steroids packages to customers in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.13 The government calculates the average number of steroid packages Esser mailed per month, therefore, to be 372.14 Extrapolated to the entire 70-month period, the total number of steroids packages is a staggering 26,040 parcels.

The United States estimates, conservatively, that Esser earned an average of $250 per package mailed. This is a conservative figure based on various forms of evidence from different periods of time. For example, the vast majority of the $1.3M deposits made to Esser’s bank account between a 16-month period (June 2018-October 2019) took the form of peer-to-peer payments via Zelle bank transfers. (Exhibit B at 75). These bank transfers are believed to be from Esser’s individual customers. Id. at 76–78. A snapshot of a one-month period, in June 2019, showed those individual deposits ranging from $210 to $1,245, with an average of $449 per order and a median of $345. Id. at 76–77.15 As another point of reference, when law enforcement seized Esser’s post office box in February 2020 upon his first arrest, fourteen packages arrived in the course of just one week—totaling $9,765 cash. This suggests an average of $698 per order. Various additional sources of evidence further support the conclusion that an average estimate of $250-per-steroids-order is conservative. Trash pulls at Esser’s home in 2019 uncovered drug ledgers with product pricing and a receipt for a $650 order. Id. At 32–36. Esser’s online advertising on the underground steroid forum BrotherhoodOfPain for his “GoldLine” product in April 2019 required a $200-minimum purchase, Id. at 62–66, and he indicated to undercover agents that he would not accept cash in the mail for “small” orders like their $200 order (incentivizing them to pay via Bitcoin for a discount). Id. at 66–67. Finally, having analyzed two of Esser’s known cryptocurrency accounts – which he failed to disclose – investigators determined the Bitcoin transactions in March-October 2020 to average $847 per individual order in one account, and transactions in October-November 2020 to average $470 per individual in another.16

Multiplying the estimated 26,040 steroids packages at $250 per order over the course of the charged time period, the government conservatively attributes $6,510,000 in drug proceeds to David Esser.

Everybody should be reading this.


And I can see the temptation.
"In just a one-year period before his arrest, Esser’s bank account received $1.3 million in deposits from steroid customers. Ex. B at 75."


Did I read it correctly that as a part of his plea deal he kept nine pieces of real estate?
"His plea agreement provides for the forfeiture of over $130,000 seized from bank accounts, four cars, $17,000 in cash, a gold chain Esser purchased for $30,000, three PA real estate properties, a $214,600 money judgment in lieu of nine other PA real estate properties, and some – but not nearly all – cryptocurrency. ECF Nos. 27 & 29."

 

[malfeasance]

"Trash pulls at Esser’s home in 2019 uncovered drug ledgers with product pricing and a receipt for a $650 order."

He was throwing evidence in the trash for the police to recover. This is after the feds had raided his labs.

All that money and did not buy a shredder? What does a paper shredder cost? Less than ten years in prison, I bet.


I hate the drug laws in this country, but it is tough to feel too sorry for a guy that was so sloppy he was practically begging to be caught, well, caught and then caught again while on bond.

 

[malfeasance]

In 2018, while working for Esser, Mr. Lambert was arrested in North Carolina for the same conduct as this case – making steroids primarily for Esser. [Lambert] was out on bond when he pled guilty and was sentenced to 19 months in prison. However, rather than surrender on the scheduled date, and after discussions with Esser, Mr. Lambert was persuaded to abscond in order to continue working for Esser under a false identity. He relocated to a residence in York, PA, which Esser owned and made available to him, so that he could continue making steroids for Esser. Mr. Lambert moved to a few different locations before the execution of the search warrant on his residence in VA, and the filing of these charges.

 

[malfeasance]

There are a whole bunch of coconspirators that were treated very harshly. The guy who pressed pills for 4 months for one of the cooks got 5 years in federal prison.

 

[Cherokee]

Makes you wonder how they pick and choose who they’re going to nail. At any given moment, all they have to do is go to one of the sponsored boards or even here or SST and pick a source.

You can get away with a lot if you don't piss someone off.

He was busted once, then out on bond, and busted a 2nd time?

Not the best way to make friends in high places, when you are at the bottom.

 

[gobig2]

Ive been through all this unfortunately. Wont say how when etc but he was very sloopy. Sloopy af. Def helps to have a attorney that's is friends with all the alphabet people too and the DA. People say you pay to get out of shit. Well not directly but you pay out the ass for the attorneys connections and friends. However you can have everthing worked out before going to fed court but the ultimate decision is from the judge. Period which in my case we advised higher however I was at the very low end to start with points thank god.

 

[gobig2]

Makes you wonder how they pick and choose who they’re going to nail. At any given moment, all they have to do is go to one of the sponsored boards or even here or SST and pick a source.

which they do

 

[hijoshiki]

We know who the Feds go after.

What is the first thing these guys look for during a bust(not drugs)? What's the first words they squeal with delight like a pig getting his favorite food?

"I FOUND THE MONEY".

They don't give a shit about drugs, they don't care about any of that. Big Pharma kills 10x over, probably more like 100x, but they pay off the government from the legislative to the judicial branch and of course they put instructions in those suitcases full of cash to create endless laws to keep the monopoly going.

The Feds know they'll never get rid of drugs and that's why it's the best business plan. The distributor does all the hard work and they swoop in when the money perks their interest and they need to fatten their LE slush fund.