Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals: the Georgia supplement maker that lost the DMAA case, makes Blackstone Labs' products, and was convicted again in 2025

Who they are, and what the record says

Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals is a supplement manufacturer in Norcross, Georgia, north of Atlanta. It sells diet pills, pre-workouts and the tablets it calls prohormones under its own name. It also makes products for other brands. Its owner has been convicted of federal crimes three times. The company has been convicted twice.

The company describes itself this way: "hi tech pharmaceuticals inc was founded in 1997 and is a georgia corporation based just north of atlanta in the city of norcross".[1] Its founder told a federal court in 2022, through Blackstone Labs' lawyers, a different year: "mr wheat has been in the supplement industry since 1994 when he founded hi tech pharmaceuticals".[2] The site has been archived since February 2001.[3] The FDA wrote to Jared Wheat at 6015-B Unity Drive, Norcross, in 2019.[4] The Justice Department describes him as follows: "wheat is the founder owner and chief executive officer of hi tech", "a large dietary supplement company that claims to have 100 million in annual revenue".[5]

Its About page lists "four u s based production facilities" in Georgia and Pennsylvania, and says "the company holds a drug manufacturing license issued by the pennsylvania department of health". It says it has grown "through the acquisition of multiple respected industry manufacturers and supplement brands".[6] The store's brand menu reads "by brand alri aps nutrition bpi sports eas formutech nutrition hi tech pharmaceuticals iforce nutrition innovative labs lg sciences top secret nutrition usplabs".[7] We did not establish which of those brands Hi-Tech owns and which it only sells.

Figure 1. The storefront in August 2026. Two of the five top sellers are a prohormone and an ephedra product. [8]

Blackstone Labs. Blackstone Labs, the Florida brand whose co-founders went to prison for selling designer steroids, is Hi-Tech's customer and is two-thirds owned by Hi-Tech's founder. Blackstone's lawyers told the sentencing court in January 2022 that "jared wheat who now owns two thirds of blackstone was not an owner during the period of time the company was involved in illegal activity", and that "all products sold by blackstone are now manufactured by hi tech pharmaceuticals". The same filing says he had "loaned the company close to four million dollars both personally and through hi tech pharmaceuticals".[2] The dossier on that company is Blackstone Labs. A federal judge dismissing a DMHA class action against Blackstone in 2021 noted that the FDA's April 2019 letter went to Wheat, one of Blackstone's owners, "regarding the use of the dmha ingredient in his products". That letter, below, concerned Hi-Tech's own brands.[9]

Figure 2. Blackstone Labs' own filing, January 2022: every Blackstone product is made by Hi-Tech. [2]

What it sells

Ephedra and DMHA. Ultimate Orange is a pre-workout powder. In April 2026 its page said "ultimate orange combines the strength of both ephedra and dmha in one single delicious product".[10] It was the first product named in the FDA's April 2019 letter to Hi-Tech: "this letter concerns your products ultimate orange hydroxyelite lipodrene elite and synadrene". The letter said the labels declared 2-aminoisoheptane HCl, which it called DMHA, and added "we also note that we have questions about whether dmha is in fact a dietary ingredient".[4] Hi-Tech sued the FDA over the letter. A federal judge in Washington dismissed the suit in June 2020, holding that a warning letter is not a final agency action that a court can review.[11] Our deep dive tells the rest of DMHA's history: Ephedra, DMAA, DMBA, DMHA.

Figure 3. Ultimate Orange, April 2026: ephedra and DMHA in one tub. It was the first product named in the FDA's DMHA warning letter of 2019. [10]

Black Widow is a capsule. Its April 2026 page says "black widow contains thermo ztm brand ephedra not banned in any state or by the fda", and "black widow is comparable to popular ephedra products that were in every convenience store in america".[12] The Supplement Facts panel in the picture below lists 25 mg of ephedra extract and 2-aminoisoheptane HCl among other stimulants. The label reads "warning not for use by individuals under the age of 18 years"; the store asks no age before the cart.[12][8] Stimerex Hardcore, in October 2025, "contains 25 mg thermo z brand ephedra extract legal in all 50 states".[13] The home page in August 2026 sold "lipodrene with ephedra extract".[8] The FDA's rule on ephedra, in force since 2004, reads: "therefore dietary supplements containing ephedrine alkaloids are adulterated".[14] We found no document in which a court or the FDA rules on Hi-Tech's ephedra extract in particular, and we make no claim about it beyond setting the two texts side by side. Black Widow and Stimerex were also both on the FDA's 2013 seizure list, then labelled for DMAA.[15]

Figure 4. Black Widow's panel, April 2026. It lists ephedra extract and 2-aminoisoheptane HCl, the name the FDA used for DMHA in its 2019 letter. [12]

Jack3d. Jack3d was one of the two DMAA products the FDA detained in 2013 from USPlabs, another company: "in 2013 the fda administratively detained two dmaa containing products oxyelite pro and jack3d".[16] In April 2026 Hi-Tech's store sold a tub branded USPlabs Jack3d, "an intense training aid enhanced made with geranium extract", labelled with 25 mg of it.[7] On how to spot DMAA, the FDA's page says that some products list "pelargonium graveolens extract or geranium extract", "which may indicate that the product contains dmaa".[16] We have not tested the 2026 tub. It may or may not contain DMAA; the label does not say.

Figure 5. Jack3d on Hi-Tech's store, April 2026, labelled with 25 mg of geranium extract. The FDA says geranium extract on a label may indicate DMAA. We have not tested it. [7]

Prohormones. The store sells tablets named after prescription steroids. Superdrol, in January 2025, was "formulated with anabolic androgenic agents including legal pro hormone esters".[17] The page says the name is short for Super Anadrol. 1-Testosterone's page says its prohormone "is still legally available and converts to 1 testosterone in a two step process".[18] The home page's top seller in August 2026 was Deca-DuraBolin, the "best anabolic prohormone".[8] Dianabol, in April 2026, was a "dianabol bodybuilding supplement and anabolic agent".[19] Federal prosecutors charge that five Hi-Tech prohormones, Superdrol and 1-Testosterone among them, contain controlled steroids; that charge is untried and appears below under Allegations. This page makes no claim about what is in them.

Figure 6. Superdrol, January 2025, a name the page says is short for Super Anadrol. It is one of five products the government's pending steroid counts name. [17]

SARMs. Osta-Plex is sold as "osta plex legal gear sarms for competitive athletes". The page says "until now there are no lawful dietary sarm products", and calls its main compound "the only known completely legal and extremely effective sarm on the market today".[20] The compound it names is a 19-nor androstene, not ostarine or any other SARM with a page on this site.

Figure 7. Osta-Plex, April 2026, sold as "legal gear" for competitive athletes. [20]

What buyers report

We searched six subreddits for "hi-tech pharmaceuticals" on 2026-10-12 through the Arctic Shift archive: 57 posts in r/Supplements, 24 in r/Preworkoutsupplements, 20 in r/PEDs, 14 in r/bodybuilding, 7 in r/StimJunkiePreworkouts and 3 in r/steroids, from 2011 to 2026.[21] We read every title and 12 threads in full. A few of the returned posts do not concern the company.

The pattern is questions, not complaints. Most posts ask whether a product works or is real, or which to buy. We found no run of non-delivery or refund complaints. The busiest threads follow the court cases: the DMAA ruling in April 2017, a thread in October 2017 that drew 75 points and 40 comments, and the 2025 verdict.[22][23][24] One commenter on the verdict thread corrected its title, pointing out that no sentence had yet been passed.[24] In June 2026 a buyer reviewed the house pre-workout AMP3D under a title calling it a "dmha slapper".[25]

One test. In January 2024 a buyer posted a lab result for Hi-Tech's NMN tablets: it "came back underdosed at 214 59mg for what were supposed to be 250mg tablets".[26] That is 86% of the label. The lab's own report is not among the documents this page cites, so the result is not counted below.

Lab results

We found no certificate of analysis on any of the 11 product pages we read, from 2025 and 2026.[10][12][7][17][20] This site's lab-results section holds no test of a Hi-Tech product. What the record does hold is a manufacturing audit. In November 2010 Hi-Tech hired an independent auditor to check its plant against the FDA's good manufacturing practice rules, and, according to the Justice Department, "the audit report listed 75 categories that were not compliant with gmp".[5] What the company did next is the subject of its 2025 conviction, below. In 2026 the store's menu still offers a page called "gmp certification of excellence", and its news list leads with "hi tech earns a superior rating in manufacturing in 2024".[1]

Regulatory and legal

Figure 8. Thirty-five years in one column, drawn by us from the court record, the FDA and the Justice Department. [5]

1991. The Justice Department says "wheat was previously convicted of drug trafficking conspiracy in the u s district court for the northern district of alabama in 1991".[5] We did not read that case.

The FTC, 2004 to 2023. In 2004 the Federal Trade Commission sued Hi-Tech, Wheat and others over weight-loss advertising. "The commission alleged that the defendants made unsubstantiated representations about two weight loss products", Thermalean and Lipodrene.[27] The FTC won in 2008, and the court "ordered them to pay $16 million in equitable monetary relief" and barred unsupported weight-loss claims.[28] The company went on advertising Fastin, Lipodrene, Benzedrine and Stimerex-ES. A first contempt finding was set aside on appeal in 2015.[27] After a bench trial the district court found contempt again, and "the district court consequently imposed approximately $40 million in sanctions". The appeals court affirmed in September 2019 and quoted a message Wheat sent to an employee after his lawyers had warned him: "[he] s[i]mply [could] not quit advertising".[29] The Supreme Court declined the case: "nov 02 2020 petition denied".[30] In August 2023 the appeals court refused to lift the debt; the court had "ordered them to pay an additional $40 million in contempt sanctions", and a later Supreme Court ruling on the FTC's powers did not undo it.[28]

Figure 9. September 2019: the appeals court upholds about $40 million in contempt sanctions over weight-loss advertising. [29]

The Belize case, 2006 to 2010. A federal grand jury in Atlanta indicted Wheat in September 2006. In January 2008 the company's home page was a blog about the case. It called the charges "baseless government allegations against hi tech pharmaceuticals inc and its president ceo jared wheat", and said "hi tech does not own any interest in any company in belize and is therefore wrongfully charged in this case".[31] In August 2008 Wheat signed a plea agreement admitting a conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and to put adulterated, misbranded and unapproved new drugs into interstate commerce. In it he admitted using Hi-Tech and related companies under his control, including one that did business as Planet Pharmacy, to carry it out.[32] A federal judge summarised the outcome in 2025: Wheat and Hi-Tech "pled guilty to count 1 in august 2008 although they were not sentenced and judgment was not entered against them in this court until early 2009". The same order describes photographs of Hi-Tech's manufacturing plant in Belize in 2004, "where the conduct underlying the previous convictions took place".[33] The appeals court records that "wheat was incarcerated from march 16 2009 to september 15 2010".[29]

Figure 10. Early 2008. The company's home page was a blog about its own prosecution, calling the charges baseless. In August the founder and the company pleaded guilty. [31]

Figure 11. The 2008 plea agreement, page 1. The admissions that follow name Hi-Tech as the vehicle for the conspiracy. [32]

BMPEA, 2015. In April 2015 the FDA wrote to Wheat about Fastin-XR, Fastin Rapid Release and Lipodrene Extended Release. Their labels listed BMPEA as an extract of Acacia rigidula, and the FDA wrote "we are aware of no evidence to support an assertion that bmpea is in fact a constituent of this botanical".[34] In 2025 Stimerex Hardcore's page still described its stimulants as "phenylethylamine alkaloids from acacia rigidula".[13]

DMAA, 2013 to 2020. In November 2013 the government seized Hi-Tech's DMAA stock at its Norcross plant under a forfeiture complaint that listed Black Widow, Fastin, Lipodrene, Stimerex-ES, Yellow Scorpion and bulk geranium powder among others.[15] The FDA's page summarises it: "also in 2013 the fda seized dmaa containing products from hi tech pharmaceuticals".[16] Hi-Tech and Wheat fought it for seven years. In April 2017 Judge Willis B. Hunt, Jr. found that "hi tech pharmaceuticals inc sells dietary supplements including weight loss products containing 1 3 dimethylamylamine commonly known as dmaa", that "products for human consumption containing dmaa are adulterated foods", and that the seized articles "are hereby condemned and forfeited to the united states for destruction".[35] The Eleventh Circuit affirmed in August 2019: "the fact that dmaa can be found in trace amounts in geraniums if true says absolutely nothing about whether consuming the substance is safe".[36] The Supreme Court refused review: "oct 19 2020 petition denied".[37] "The products were destroyed on November 12, 2020."[16] The legal reasoning is set out in our deep dive, Ephedra, DMAA, DMBA, DMHA, which this page does not repeat.

Figure 12. The seizure complaint, 7 November 2013. Black Widow and Stimerex are on the list; both names are still sold in 2025 and 2026. [15]

Figure 13. 3 April 2017: the DMAA stock condemned for destruction. The appeals court affirmed in 2019. [35]

Figure 14. The FDA's own account, archived October 2026. The same paragraph names Jack3d, a product Hi-Tech's store sells under that name today. [16]

The 2017 indictment and search. In September 2017 a grand jury in Atlanta indicted Wheat, Hi-Tech and an employee. Federal agents searched six Hi-Tech properties, and "the agents executed the premises warrants on the morning of october 4 2017".[38] The case was eight years in pre-trial motions before it reached a jury.

The 2025 verdict. After a six-week trial, a jury convicted the founder and the company. "On November 21, 2025, a jury convicted Wheat, 53, of Alpharetta, Georgia, of wire fraud", and "the jury also convicted hi tech of wire fraud conspiracy wire fraud money laundering conspiracy and money laundering".[5] The scheme was the audit. According to the Justice Department, after the independent auditor found the failures above, Hi-Tech produced a passing certificate from a company called PharmaTech, which Wheat secretly owned, and listed one of his former lawyers in Belize as its general manager. It also altered FDA export certificates. "Customers who received the fraudulent documents paid at least $4,763,292 to Hi-Tech" between 2011 and 2013. As of that release, "the sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg has not yet been scheduled".[5]

Figure 15. 24 November 2025: the founder and the company convicted of faking manufacturing certificates. [5]

Allegations: who says what, why, and what we could check

• That five Hi-Tech prohormones contain controlled steroids. A superseding indictment filed in December 2024 charges Hi-Tech with making and distributing "superdrol equivolin 1 ad 1 testosterone and androdiol all of which the government contends contain schedule iii controlled anabolic steroids".[39] Who says it: federal prosecutors. The other side: the defence has argued, and a judge found it a credible enough allegation to order a hearing, that "the analysis of hi tech products demonstrated that the illegal anabolic steroids existed only in trace amounts not sufficient to render the products illegal".[40] What we could check: the products are on the store, sold as prohormones.[17][18] We found no ruling on these counts, and they were not among the verdicts the Justice Department announced in November 2025.[5] Nothing above rests on them.
• That Choledrene contained lovastatin. The same indictment charges that Hi-Tech's Choledrene contained lovastatin, a prescription drug ingredient, without saying so on the label.[39] The Justice Department's account of the verdict does not list a misbranding conviction.[5] Untested here, and nothing above rests on it.

If you bought from Hi-Tech, hold a label or a test result, or worked there, rate it below or leave a note.

Still open

• The sentence for the 2025 conviction, and the fate of the steroid counts. Searched the Justice Department's release and the federal opinions published through 2026; the latest says sentencing was not yet scheduled.
• Which store brands Hi-Tech owns. The About page says it has bought brands; it does not list them. USPlabs, iForce, BPI Sports and EAS appear in the brand menu.
• What Jack3d contains in 2026. The label lists geranium extract. No test found.
• Whether the FDA has written to Hi-Tech since 2019. Searched the FDA's DMAA, DMHA and BMPEA pages and its warning-letter search; the 2015 and 2019 letters are the latest found.
• Who owns the last third of Blackstone Labs. Not stated in the filings read.

Changes

• 2026-10-12: first written.
• 2026-10-12: linked to the USPlabs dossier; Hi-Tech's store sells Jack3d under the USPlabs name.[7]

References

1. hitechpharma.com home page, archived 2026-01-12 — Wayback Machine
2. United States v. Braun et al., No. 9:19-cr-80030-WPD (S.D. Fla.), Dkt 654, Blackstone Labs' sentencing memorandum, 2022-01-26 — CourtListener (RECAP)
3. hitechpharma.com, earliest Wayback capture, 2001-02-20 — Wayback Machine
4. Warning letter to Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (MARCS-CMS 560788), 2019-04-10 — US Food and Drug Administration
5. Two-Time Convicted Felon CEO and His Dietary Supplement Company Convicted of $4.7 Million Fraud Scheme, 2025-11-24 (archived) — US Attorney's Office, Northern District of Georgia (Wayback Machine)
6. hitechpharma.com, About Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, archived 2026-04-07 — Wayback Machine
7. hitechpharma.com, Jack3d, archived 2026-04-07 — Wayback Machine
8. hitechpharma.com home page, archived 2026-08-30 — Wayback Machine
9. Quidera v. Blackstone Labs, LLC, No. 9:20-cv-80898 (S.D. Fla.), Dkt 40, order granting motion to dismiss, 2021-03-08 — CourtListener (RECAP)
10. hitechpharma.com, Ultimate Orange, archived 2026-04-07 — Wayback Machine
11. Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Hahn, No. 1:19-cv-01268-RBW (D.D.C.), Dkt 12, memorandum opinion, 2020-06-29 — CourtListener (RECAP)
12. hitechpharma.com, Black Widow, archived 2026-04-07 — Wayback Machine
13. hitechpharma.com, Stimerex Hardcore, archived 2025-10-05 — Wayback Machine
14. 21 CFR 119.1, Dietary supplements containing ephedrine alkaloids — Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
15. United States v. Undetermined Quantities of All Articles of Finished and In-Process Foods, No. 1:13-cv-03675 (N.D. Ga.), Dkt 1, complaint for forfeiture, 2013-11-07 (pages 3 to 9 image only) — CourtListener (RECAP)
16. DMAA in Products Marketed as Dietary Supplements (archived 2026-10-06) — US Food and Drug Administration (Wayback Machine)
17. hitechpharma.com, Superdrol, archived 2025-01-12 — Wayback Machine
18. hitechpharma.com, 1-Testosterone, archived 2025-01-12 — Wayback Machine
19. hitechpharma.com, Dianabol, archived 2026-04-07 — Wayback Machine
20. hitechpharma.com, Osta-Plex, archived 2026-04-07 — Wayback Machine
21. Posts returned for 'hi-tech pharmaceuticals' in r/Supplements (57), r/Preworkoutsupplements (24), r/PEDs (20), r/bodybuilding (14), r/StimJunkiePreworkouts (7) and r/steroids (3), 2011 to 2026, searched 2026-10-12 through the Arctic Shift archive — Arctic Shift — anecdotal report, not evidence
22. Summary Judgment on DMAA issued against Hi-Tech, ruling in favor of FDA (2017-04-04) — r/Supplements — anecdotal report, not evidence
23. Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals now prohibited from selling DMAA supplements (2017-10-05) — r/bodybuilding — anecdotal report, not evidence
24. Hi-Tech CEO going to prison for a very long time (2025-11-27) — r/Preworkoutsupplements — anecdotal report, not evidence
25. AMP3D Pre Workout Review | DMHA SLAPPER | Hi-Tech (2026-06-19) — r/Preworkoutsupplements — anecdotal report, not evidence
26. Hi Tech Pharmaceuticals NMN 3rd Party Test Results :( (2024-01-12) — r/Supplements — anecdotal report, not evidence
27. FTC v. National Urological Group, Inc. (Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, Inc.), No. 14-13131 (11th Cir. 2015-05-05) — GovInfo (US Courts opinions)
28. FTC v. National Urological Group, Inc. (Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, Inc.), No. 21-14161 (11th Cir. 2023-08-29) — GovInfo (US Courts opinions)
29. FTC v. National Urological Group, Inc. (Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, Inc.), No. 17-15695 (11th Cir. 2019-09-18, unpublished) — GovInfo (US Courts opinions)
30. Supreme Court docket No. 19-1445, Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Federal Trade Commission — Supreme Court of the United States
31. web.hitechpharma.com, 'USA v Jared Wheat, et al' blog home page, archived 2008-02-08 — Wayback Machine
32. United States v. Wheat, No. 1:06-cr-382 (N.D. Ga.), Dkt 685-1, change of plea and plea agreement, 2008-08-15 (scanned) — Internet Archive (RECAP)
33. United States v. Wheat, No. 1:17-cr-229-AT (N.D. Ga.), Dkt 720, order on Rule 404(b) evidence, 2025-10-19 — GovInfo (US Courts opinions)
34. Warning letter to Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 2015-04-22 (BMPEA; archived) — US Food and Drug Administration (Wayback Machine)
35. United States v. Quantities of Finished and In-Process Foods, No. 1:13-cv-03675-WBH (N.D. Ga.), Dkt 140, order on summary judgment, 2017-04-03 — CourtListener (RECAP)
36. United States v. Undetermined Quantities of All Articles of Finished and In-Process Foods (Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Jared Wheat, claimants), No. 17-13376 (11th Cir. 2019-08-30) — US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
37. Supreme Court docket No. 20-295, Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Food and Drug Administration — Supreme Court of the United States
38. United States v. Wheat, No. 1:17-cr-229-AT-CMS (N.D. Ga.), Dkt 314, report and recommendation, 2020-05-28 — GovInfo (US Courts opinions)
39. United States v. Wheat, No. 1:17-cr-229-AT (N.D. Ga.), Dkt 660, order on expert testimony, 2025-09-12 — GovInfo (US Courts opinions)
40. United States v. Wheat, No. 1:17-cr-229-AT-CMS (N.D. Ga.), Dkt 431, supplement to report and recommendation, 2021-08-11 — GovInfo (US Courts opinions)