Enhanced Athlete's "Dr. Tony Huge" Ordered Back to the United States for Deposition

Sacramento's Anthony Hughes must appear May 29 in Los Angeles for questioning in civil lawsuits

LOS ANGELES, CALIF., U.S., April 16, 2018 /EINPresswire.com/ -- A federal judge has ordered supplement company Enhanced Athlete to produce Anthony Hughes (aka “Dr. Tony Huge”) for deposition in the United States, in an order dated April 16. Hughes, who has been alleged to promote SARMs and DNP in multiple lawsuits filed by a competitor, left the county in 2017 after the lawsuits were filed and has not returned to the United States since.

The Court ordered deposition will take place on May 29 in Los Angeles, not in Brazil as Mr. Hughes’ attorneys had proposed. This is the third time the judge has ordered Enhanced Athlete to present Hughes for deposition.

Earlier this month Enhanced Athlete’s counsel, Rutan & Tucker, sought the judge’s consent to put off the deposition on Fifth Amendment grounds, arguing that the rights of Enhanced Athlete and its CEO Scott Cavell, who are under criminal investigation for their sale of SARMs, would be impacted by Mr. Hughes deposition. Cavell was arrested Feb. 6 for violating terms of his parole following federal incarceration for his role in running a multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud scheme several years ago.

“Defendants have failed to sufficiently demonstrate that the pending investigation overlaps with the instant civil action,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Kendall Newman wrote.

In addition, the April 9 order warned Enhanced Athlete and Rutan & Tucker against continuing to stall the court-ordered depositions, writing: “Defendants’ failure to schedule the deposition or produce Mr. Hughes, as outlined in this order, may result in sanctions against defendants and/or defense counsel.”

“I am pleased the Court has recognized the stall tactics being employed,” Tauler said. “The Court’s Order should be taken seriously.”

Enhanced Athlete has been the subject of public scrutiny since rival supplement company Nutrition Distribution, of Phoenix, filed the lawsuits last year.

Enhanced Athlete’s United Kingdom branch was raided by food safety investigators who seized a large amount of DNP, a pesticide and herbicide sold for weight loss which has killed several people in the U.K. according to The Guardian. The FDA raided Enhanced Athlete’s Sacramento operations and Cavell’s home on Dec. 6, seizing SARMs, experimental drugs developed by pharmaceutical companies to combat muscle and bone atrophy associated with degenerative diseases, but marketed and sold to bodybuilders to gain muscle. YouTube terminated Enhanced Athlete’s YouTube marketing and promotion channel on Dec. 22 for violating community standards.

Robert Tauler is an expert in false advertising and commercial litigation who represents many top-tier natural supplement companies. Tauler Smith LLP represents both plaintiffs and defendants in commercial litigation, including false advertising, business disputes, and unfair competition.

Robert Tauler
Tauler Smith LLP
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