LEE COUNTY, Fla. -- The former owner of a dietary supplement company will now spend the next 18 months in federal prison for selling weight-loss and attention deficit pills that contained an illegal stimulant.
52-year-old Derek Vest of Fort Myers will also serve a year of supervised release following his sentence.
His sentence is part of a plea deal requiring him to testify in other cases. He must also forfeit the $2.5 million he made off the drugs between 2013 and 2014, when he sold more than 2 million pills.
He pleaded guilty in March.
According to court documents, Vest was the President of Gentech Pharmaceutical, a dietary supplement sales, marketing, and distribution facility located in Fort Myers, where he controlled and oversaw the manufacture, marketing, and sale of purported dietary supplements, including AddTabz, PhenTabz, and PhenTabz-Teen.
Vest’s company marketed and sold these dietary supplements over the Internet, in stores, and at various kiosks.
AddTabz were marketed as mental focus and performance tablets. They were advertised as a safe alternative to Adderall, and as a designer non-prescription pharmacological alternative that claimed to improve memory, learning, and overall brain function instantly.
PhenTabz and PhenTabz-Teen were advertised as weight loss tablets.
All of these products were sold throughout the United States and overseas.
In addition, Vest authorized the use of amphetamine derivative DMAA in the manufacture of various products, but did not disclose the presence of DMAA on the product labeling for the tablets.
