Paradigm Peptides sold untested research drugs to 54,000 buyers; owner got 70 months

From April 2019 to March 2024, Paradigm Peptides (legally Paradigm R.E. LLC), run by Matthew Kawa from Michigan City, Indiana, sold peptides, SARMs and hCG through paradigmpeptides.com to more than 54,000 customers in all 50 states and over 80 countries, for roughly $5 million. Nothing was tested before sale. Many of the SARM pills were actually testosterone, a controlled substance, not the compound on the label.

The storefront looked legitimate: claims of manufacture in the company's own US laboratories (the products were imported from Asia, including China and India), '99% purity' claims, laboratory certificates of analysis (forged), and a statement of being licensed and registered with the FDA (warning letters had been sent instead). The 'for research use only' disclaimer sat on every label, but in his plea Kawa admitted: 'I knew that Paradigm's products were being marketed and sold for human consumption.'

The FDA had co-signed an FTC warning letter to the company on 7 December 2020 over thymosin alpha-1 marketed with COVID-19 claims, and the Department of Justice says a second FDA letter followed in 2022; selling continued. Kawa pleaded guilty in December 2025 to introducing unapproved new drugs into interstate commerce with intent to defraud and mislead, and to illegally importing merchandise. On 30 July 2026 Judge Cristal C. Brisco sentenced him to 70 months and his sister and main employee Jennifer Stechkober to 16 months, saying he had left 'an incredible trail of harm'.

Customers reported chronic acne, suppressed natural testosterone requiring replacement therapy, cardiac issues and psychological harm; customer Daniel Murphy was diagnosed with steroid-induced psychosis after taking Paradigm SARMs that contained testosterone. A $5 million money judgment was entered against Kawa, with $78,317.52 in restitution owed jointly by both defendants.

70 months prison for the owner and 16 months for his sister, a $5M money judgment, $78,317.52 restitution, and the business shut in March 2024

The business model depended on faked trust signals: forged certificates of analysis, a fake 'made in the USA' claim, and purity figures no lab ever measured.

The 'research use only' label was, by the owner's own plea admission, fiction — dosing guidance and marketing pointed at human consumption, which makes the product an unapproved drug in law.

Two regulatory warning letters (2020 and 2022) failed to stop the sales, converting a compliance lapse into a criminal prosecution.

The economics left victims nearly uncompensated: $78,317.52 in restitution against about $5 million taken in.

A disclaimer label does not reclassify a product: courts and regulators judge intended use, and forged certificates of analysis turn a gray market into federal fraud with prison time attached.

Paradigm Peptides shut down in March 2024; CBS News found a similarly named site on a different domain, which says it has no connection to Kawa. On 24 August 2026 the FDA sent warning letters to five more research-use-only sellers, pointing to therapeutic marketing language and peptide dose calculators as evidence of intended human use. Ohio's pharmacy board declared research-labelled drugs unlawful for clinics and med spas in December 2025, and Alabama's medical board barred physicians from dispensing research-grade peptides in June 2026. Murphy's civil suit is pending.