Man Charged With Giving Fake Botox Injections That Sickened Clients

A Manhattan aesthetician was arrested and charged with injecting patients at his medical spa with counterfeit Botox, prosecutors said, sending some to the hospital.

Joey Grant Luther promised the clients of his Manhattan medical spa faces that were less wrinkled, eyes that were more youthful, and penises that were larger, all through the magic of injectable treatments like Botox.

Instead, prosecutors said, many of those clients were left with botulism, impaired vision and other maladies after Mr. Luther illegally injected them with counterfeit drugs.

Mr. Luther, 54, was charged on Monday with wire fraud, smuggling and crimes related to the handling of counterfeit drugs, according to a complaint prosecutors unsealed on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer.

On social media, Mr. Luther and the medical spa he ran, JGL Aesthetics, advertised a life of luxury and wealth. At the spa, Mr. Luther, who is not a doctor and did not have a license to administer Botox, posed in a white lab coat alongside attractive young clients.

Outside work, he posted pictures from black-tie benefits and sunny vacation spots, like the American Ballet Theater Gala, Fire Island Pines and Miami Beach. Often he was shirtless, rollicking through crashing surf or lounging with age-defying men in Speedos.

But at his day job, prosecutors said, Mr. Luther was injecting clients in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood with counterfeit Botox from China.