By John Accola And Rachel Brand, Rocky Mountain News
October 9, 2004

For years Paul Delia, founder of Golden- based AST Sports Science Inc., sparred with government regulators and health experts over ephedra, the Chinese herbal stimulant linked to deaths and strokes.

Openly berating the Food and Drug Administration on his company's Web site, Delia complained the federal agency was feeding "misleading information and nonsense" to a gullible media.

"It's bad enough to have the unscrupulous supplement companies lying to you, but add the FDA to the mix and where do you turn?" asked Delia in his signature online column, Hard Core, in April 2001.

"Ninety-nine percent of all FDA-released information on ephedra is one-sided and lacks accepted scientific credibility."

With ephedra supplements now banned altogether, the former gym owner from Mississippi has something new to stew over: AST in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

The company claims it's about to go broke defending itself against lawsuits, mostly over AST's discontinued ephedra product line.

But some plaintiff attorneys aren't so sure. While the bankruptcy court has put the litigation on hold, the lawyers say they see the lion's share of AST's revenues - well into the seven figures - being funneled to Delia through a group of side businesses he controls.

"Ephedra companies are running to the bankruptcy court for refuge," said Todd Macaluso, a San Diego attorney who won an $18 million ephedra judgment in May 2003 against one of AST's biggest rivals, Nutraquest Inc.

The New Jersey supplement maker, formerly known as Cytodyne, filed for Chapter 11 protection last October, citing 52 pending wrongful death and product liability suits nationwide.

Macaluso argues the Nutraquest bankruptcy is part of a scheme orchestrated by the company's president to avoid paying ephedra claims.

"The bottom line is you need to get organized," Macaluso advises plaintiff lawyers whose cases are hanging in the AST bankruptcy. "Unless there is a strong creditors committee, it could slide right through."