Sylvester Stallone pleads guilty to Jintropin smuggling

May 14, 2007

Sydney, Australia - "Rocky" actor Sylvester Stallone has pleaded guilty to bringing vials of a restricted muscle-building hormone (Jintropin) into Australia.

Rocky actor Sylvester Stallone has pleaded guilty to bringing vials of a restricted muscle-building hormone Jintropin into Australia.

Stallone did not appear before Sydney's Downing Center Local Court, but sent his lawyers to enter the guilty plea on his behalf.

The 60-year-old "Rocky" and "Rambo" star admitted to two charges of possessing the body-building drugs in his luggage when he arrived at Sydney airport from the United States in February, his lawyers told a local court.

Stallone, who left Australia on February 19 after promoting his new movie "Rocky Balboa", had been excused from appearing at the hearing.

The maximum fine for the offense is $91,600.

Customs officers said in documents presented to the Court that they found five boxes of the growth hormone Jintropin in Stallone's luggage when he arrived on February 16.

The key ingredient in the drugs is somatropin, advertised on the Internet as enhancing sexual performance, reducing body fat, removing wrinkles, boosting muscle mass and for the "re-generation of major organs that shrink with age."