Online seller of peptides is sentenced to nearly 6 years in prison

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – A federal judge on Thursday sentenced the owner of a peptide company to nearly six years in prison after finding he built a massive business by deceiving customers and selling products that were adulterated with steroids.

Matthew Kawa, who ran Paradigm Peptides, pleaded guilty last year to selling unapproved drugs and illegally importing them from abroad. His sentence marks a rare criminal penalty for a seller of peptides that are labeled "for research use," a largely unregulated marketplace that has become a go-to source for many people who look beyond established medical channels for ways to boost their health.

"You focused on what you wanted to build instead of thinking about the people," U.S. District Court Judge Cristal Brisco said in sentencing Kawa to 70 months in prison, adding that Kawa ignored "numerous warnings" from regulators and left "an incredible trail of harm."

Prosecutors estimated that Paradigm had 54,000 unique customers in all 50 U.S. states and in 80 countries. Kawa, 48, agreed to forfeit $5 million in proceeds from the business.

Kawa, wearing a gray suit, acknowledged that Paradigm's customers relied on his false statements about the company's products. "I'm deeply sorry I betrayed that trust," he told the court. "I should have asked harder questions and made sure what we did followed the law." Kawa previously declined to comment when contacted by CBS News.

Before it was shut down in March 2024, Paradigm Peptides looked like many vendors on the internet today: advertising its offerings as made in America, of 99% purity, tested by third-party labs — and with the disclaimer that they were "for research use only." But its business, prosecutors say, was built on lies.

Paradigm imported its products from China, India and other countries, court filings show. Kawa admitted they forged laboratory certificates to lend credibility to their peptides. And when the government tested six compounds designed to mimic the effects of testosterone, prosecutors said that all of them contained actual testosterone — a steroid hormone subject to strict regulation because of the risks involved in taking it.

For years, Paradigm maintained that its products were only for research use, but Kawa admitted in his guilty plea that this was false. "I knew that Paradigm's products were being marketed and sold for human consumption," his plea deal states.

Brisco also sentenced Jennifer Stechkober, Kawa's 32-year-old sister and main employee at Paradigm, to 16 months in prison after she too pleaded guilty. He found she was "not the mastermind" but "played an integral role" in Paradigm's business and false statements.

Peptides are chains of amino acids that deliver a set of instructions to the body — to store or burn energy, or to release more of a hormone — that have become wildly popular with people hoping to lose weight, gain muscle or even live longer. Such compounds are increasingly migrating into mainstream use despite a lack of FDA approval, with licensed physicians prescribing them and even New York bodegas getting in on the action.

"I would hope it's a wake-up call for a lot of the other research-use-only companies out there because this is actual prison time, not just maybe a cease-and-desist or slap on the wrist," said David Holt, an attorney who founded a boutique healthcare law practice. "That's a whole different world."

A life disrupted

In addition to peptides, Paradigm also sold products known as SARMs — or selective androgen receptor modulators — which can help build muscle but also come with a range of dangerous side effects, from elevating the risk of heart attacks to psychosis, the FDA has warned.

Paradigm labeled its SARMs as dietary supplements, and that made some customers, like Dan Murphy, comfortable that they must be safe.

"It'd be no different than taking vitamin D," Murphy, a 32-year-old marketing consultant, said in an interview.

Murphy started taking SARMs from Paradigm in 2023. He was a believer in alternative, holistic medicine and comfortable with the biohacking ethos promoted by peptide vendors that, like Paradigm, tacked on a research-use disclaimer to their products. He had recently lost a lot of weight and was looking for a supplement to help build muscle.

"When I started taking the product, right away I felt an increase in energy," he said. "I was really happy with that."

Murphy found he could push his body more than ever before and began working out obsessively, he recalled. But as he took more SARMs from Paradigm over several months, he began having trouble sleeping. His sense of his business acumen became grandiose. He developed cystic acne on his back so acute that it was painful to put on a shirt.

He began suspecting his wife was conspiring to hold him back, and became paranoid that his mother-in-law was going to kill him, he said. Murphy had never before experienced mental illness and testified he didn't recognize what was happening as he lost touch with reality and repeatedly thought about killing himself, he said.

"I lost friends, family, colleagues, clients and almost lost my life," Murphy said. "I had gotten so detached from reality that I could not make any connection to the supplements as the cause."

He was at a low point when, in February of 2025, he received a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice with the subject line: "Federal Investigation of paradigmpeptides.com." Investigators had determined that many of Paradigm's products that were marketed as SARMs "in fact contained testosterone."

Initially Murphy thought it might be a scam. But soon, it became his Rosetta stone for understanding what had happened to him: He wasn't a monster, he thought. He was a victim.

"It was this lightning rod of clarity," Murphy said.

Murphy and his wife, Laura, found a bottle of a SARM he had ordered and had it tested by an independent lab. It came back positive for testosterone, according to Murphy and court records.

In his guilty plea, Kawa said he "did not test the SARM products that my business sold to customers." He didn't know that they contained testosterone, according to a memo by prosecutors, who argued that the lack of testing "demonstrates the recklessness" of his actions.

Murphy was ultimately evaluated by a medical expert, Erik Messamore, who diagnosed him with "steroid-induced psychosis." Murphy hired a lawyer and is suing Paradigm Peptides, which Kawa is contesting.

"A game of whack-a-mole"

Prosecutors hope that the sentence will deter others involved in the booming peptide industry from similar conduct, but legal experts say the impact remains to be seen. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation's top health official, has talked up the benefits of peptides and urged the FDA to make them more widely available to consumers.

Just last week, an independent advisory committee to the agency recommended — over the objections of agency staff — to broaden access to six peptides. One of them, BPC-157, was among the unapproved drugs that Kawa was charged with selling.

"You go on these podcasts and listen to the secretary of [Health and Human Services] talk about peptides and wanting to expand availability to consumers," George Karavetsos, a former FDA lawyer and federal prosecutor, said. Prosecuting bad actors, he said, is "a game of whack-a-mole."

Even after Paradigm's website went offline, similarly named websites have sprung up to offer the same products, sometimes with the same labels. One such site, paradigmpeptides.is, also promotes "research-grade peptides in the USA" that are "independently verified to 99%+" purity. The bottles featured on its site use what appears to be the same font, colors and design as Kawa's company.

"We would like to clarify that we have no affiliation whatsoever with the previous Paradigm Peptides website, its former owner Matthew Kawa, or any related business," the company said in an emailed response. The email stated that the company was "not aware that certain design elements could be perceived as resembling those used by the previous Paradigm Peptides," adding "if any aspect of our labels or branding creates concern, we are fully willing to redesign and replace them."