Illegal diet sales alleged

LAFAYETTE — Federal prosecutors allege the owner of a Lafayette herbal supplement business sold products containing a prescription diet drug that was taken off the market in 2010 on health concerns, bringing in more than $350,000 over two years.

Thuy Thikim Nguyen faces federal charges related to the marketing of unapproved drugs in weight-loss supplements allegedly sold through Chailan Herbal Care over the Internet and at a business on Verot School Road in Lafayette.

Prosecutors also are seeking authority to seize $365,380 in proceeds from the alleged sale of the supplements from September 2009 to October 2011 and the Verot School Road business that served as a base for the operations. Authorities also confiscated $2,700 during a search related to the investigation and are seeking to keep that money.

A woman who answered the telephone at a number listed for Chailan Herbal Care declined comment Tuesday.

Federal prosecutors allege that Nguyen marketed weight-loss products under the names Extreme Body Reshape and Figure Reshape that both contained the drug Sibutramine.

Sibutramine is a prescription diet drug that the maker withdrew from the U.S. market in October 2010 after clinical trials found it increased the chances of heart attack and stroke, according to information from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

A website for Chailan Herbal Care listed the ingredients of the company’s weight-loss supplements as being an “all herbal” combination of mulberry leaves and various seeds and fruit extracts.