NYC skincare specialist knowingly injected clients with phony Botox from China — leading one woman to experience ‘double vision’: feds
A New York City skincare specialist was busted Wednesday for injecting clients with phony Botox from China — leading one woman to experience “double vision” and heart palpitations, the feds said.
Hell’s Kitchen aesthetician Joey Grant Luther, 54, allegedly peddled the prescription medicine he knew was counterfeit to clients at his medical spa, JGL Aesthetics, and treated them without the proper New York state license, prosecutors said.
One of his alleged victims paid $463 in February 2024 for what she thought was a Botox injection to her eyebrow and arm pit.
Three days later, she “began experiencing double vision, light headedness, difficulty swallowing and chewing, heart palpitations, and slurring of speech,” according to a criminal complaint unsealed in Manhattan federal court.
The victim was later diagnosed with Botulism toxin, prosecutors said.
The alleged phony Botox purveyor continued “profiting handsomely” from selling the illicit treatments for months — despite several clients reporting serious medical ailments from the phony products, prosecutor Brandon Thompson said.
Luther — who rents a penthouse apartment above his medical office on West 45th Street, near Ninth Avenue — allegedly continued to perform Botox treatments until his arrest — and even had a 5:30 p.m. appointment scheduled, Thompson said during the aesthetician’s first court appearance in the case.
Court papers show that Luther asked his supplier for more Botox he knew was unsafe — and brazenly requested 41 bottles for free because of what his clients were suffering through.
“He knew about these issues and then said, ‘I want more of this toxic substance to give people and I want it for free,’” Thompson said during the court hearing, at which Luther sat at the defense table in a white t-shirt and jeans.
Luther was charged with wire fraud, smuggling, and other crimes related to misbranded and counterfeit drugs.
He was released Wednesday on $100,000 bail secured by his second home in Miami Beach — over the objections of prosecutors, who called him a “tremendous risk to the public.”
US Magistrate Judge Sarah L. Cave ordered Luther released on the condition that he surrender his existing aesthetics license — which already bars him from doing Botox treatments — and put up the Miami Beach home as collateral.
Luther’s alleged victims were led to believe that the Botox was manufactured by the brand name Allergan, yet federal agents seized several cartons of the counterfeit products from Asia that Luther was intended to receive in his office, the feds said.
“Luther’s disregard for the health of his clients put all of his victims in harm’s way and, in some cases, caused life-threating injuries,” said Danielle Sassoon, the interim US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, in a statement.
Luther had no comment when asked about the charges on his way out of court.
His next court was scheduled for early February.
He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the top charge he faces.
