They’re so utterly outraged, disgusted and profoundly horrified — they’re almost frowning!
Frozen faces are freaking out over the arrest of aesthetician Joey Grant Luther, who has been accused of injecting people with counterfeit Botox from China causing them to experience symptoms like difficulty swallowing, heart palpitations and slurring of speech, according to court docs.
Luther is not legally authorized to administer Botox, which we hear from former clients wasn’t clear to them.
One taut-faced former client tells us they allegedly got double vision after getting jabbed by Luther and spent thousands on CAT scans as well as an MRI and specialists to try and get to the bottom of the problem.
The issue eventually went away and the client even went back to Luther.
Luther, the source says, then disappeared.
“I kept texting him and texting him, and never heard back from him,” says the source. “I liked him and thought he was nice. I’m pissed. Who do you trust these days?”
Another client tells us the scandal is “rocking the gay community,” which was at the heart of Luther’s customer base, they said.
“He was charming and nice, seemed normal,” says the second former client. “Everyone is totally shocked.”
We are told part of Luther’s appeal was his prices.
“It was cheap, considering,” says the second source. “He would do $300 for one area, but if you are going to a top person it’s way more than that.”
While Luther was an aesthetician and could perform procedures like laser and facials, he was allegedly not allowed to administer Botox because he did not have the proper license, according to the complaint.
As one top injector explained bluntly to Page Six: “He’s not a doctor. He’s just some guy.”
Luther, 54, was busted by the feds this week, The Post reported, and charged with wire fraud, smuggling and other crimes related to misbranded and counterfeit drugs.
He allegedly used the prescription medicine he knew was counterfeit on clients at his medical spa, JGL Aesthetics, and treated them without the proper New York state license, prosecutors said.
According to a release put out by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, one victim as diagnosed with botulism toxin after going to the hospital for “double vision, light headedness, difficulty swallowing and chewing, heart palpitations, and slurring of speech” — as well as being unable to lift her arms and experiencing “weakness from the waist up.”
Luther was released Wednesday on $100,000 bail secured by his second home in Miami Beach.
A US Magistrate ordered Luther released on the condition that he surrender his existing aesthetics license — which already barred him from administering Botox treatments — and put up the Florida home as collateral.
He had no comment when asked about the charges on his way out of court, and his next court date was scheduled for early February.
Luther could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the top charge by the feds.
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