The three UX Labs co-conspirators received surprisingly lenient sentences given the size of the steroid trafficking organization.
Ronald Roginsky, the leader of the underground laboratory known as UX Labs, received the harshest sentence of three years probation and a $25,000 fine.
John Ambrose, who was in charge of selling UX Labs on the Darknet, was sentenced to three years probation and a $10,000 fine.
Eric Angle, a UX Labs customer who resold product to his clients, was sentenced to two years probation and a $5,000 fine. Angle is the brother of Olympic gold medalist and WWE star Kurt Angle.
The UX Labs team was fortunate to avoid going to jail given the size of its steroid manufacturing and trafficking operation on both the dark net and the clear net.
Roginsky, Ambrose, and Angle all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances in January 2020. Roginsky also pleaded guilty to conspiracy money laundering.
The details of the plea agreement currently remain sealed. It is not known whether the plea agreements would provide any insight into the lenient penalties imposed on the UX Labs co-conspirators.
UX Labs steroids were sold widely on Dark Net marketplaces such as Alpha Bay, Dream Market and Olympus Market. Roginsky imported raw steroid powder from China. He manufactured UX Labs products in a clandestine underground lab.
Roginsky sold UX Labs products on various bodybuilding forums prior to meeting Ambrose.
Ambrose promised to establish a new sales channel for UX Labs products on the Darknet. He created and managed the Darknet vendor screename known as Qu4ntum. Qu4ntum posted listings for multiple UX Labs products on various marketplaces.
Ambrose took various precautions to maintain operational security. These measures included the use of end-to-end encrypted messaging and voice calling application. They also included the use of pseudonymous payment via various cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.
However, Roginsky’s steroid sales on bodybuilding forums probably made the operation more vulnerable to penetration by law enforcement. While Bitcoin was accepted from forum customers, Roginsky also accepted “cash in mail” (CIM) as a payment option.
In addition, Angle operated as a reseller and sold UX Labs steroids to his clients in face-to-face transactions.
The relatively large-scale UX Labs operation was targeted by various local, state and federal law enforcement agencies. These included the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USIP), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) and the Medina County Drug Task Force (MCDTF).