But the problem was that the pills he sold were made from DNP, or dinitrophenol, a chemical used as a herbicide or wood preservative that is toxic for human consumption, federal prosecutors said.
He compounded and pressed the pills himself in his Mays Landing home and when he would take them to a shipping agent to send to customers, who had found him on eBay and Twitter, his hands and face would be covered with a fine yellow dust from the chemical he was working with, according to testimony given at trial.Merlino’s weight-loss business had tragic consequences, federal prosecutors said.
Federal prosecutors say Merlino had been selling the drug online from late 2017 until early 2019, when he was arrested following the death of the 21-year-old customer in the U.K. During that time he had made around $54,000 selling the pills to hundreds of people in the U.S., Canada and England. Merlino’s lawyer, Robert Gamburg, didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment, but in court filings argued that his client, who had been a physician in and around Philadelphia for over 40 years until his retirement in 2005, did not sell the drug purely for profit.
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