Celebrity News

Socialite slapped with $60K fine over weight-loss pill

It was bitterly expensive pill for this self-proclaimed, weight-loss guru to swallow.

A judge on Friday slapped Beverly Hills socialite Nikki Haskell — whose weight-loss pills were blamed for the banned-substance suspensions of seven NFL players in 2008 — with a $60,000 fine after she copped a plea to drug misbranding charges.

A teary-eyed Haskell — a St. Tropez regular and a bridesmaid at Ivana Trump’s last wedding — wept profusely in Manhattan federal court while saying she had no idea her StarCap pills secretly contained bumetanide, a diuretic with dangerous side effects that has been banned by the NFL and other sports leagues for being a steroid-masking agent which helps users beat drug tests.

Citing her advanced age and fiscal woes, Haskell also openly begged Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn for leniency.

“I am so remorseful because this has really destroyed my life,” Haskell said. “I’m 73 years old…I beg this court not to impose a fine of more than $60,000.”

Prosecutors had asked the judge to fine Haskell $100,000 — the maximum under her March plea deal with the feds. They said she was ultimately responsible for her product – whether she knew bumetanide was in it or not. However, they opted against seeking jail time or probation for the senior, who had faced up to a year in prison.

Afterwards, Haskell was so emotional that she lost her balance while leaving the courtroom and had to caught by her lawyer, Chris Mancini. She then told reporters, “I’m glad it’s over.”

Haskell claims she didn’t know StarCaps contained bumetanide and that the ingredient was added by the product’s manufacturer in Peru.

StarCap had boasted itself as an “all-natural blend of garlic and papaya from the higher Andes of Peru.”

Haskell is apparently the biggest victim of the NFL’s drug-testing policy. She filed for bankruptcy in 2010 and then told Page Six she blamed it on being sued by former NFL offensive guard Jamar Nesbit.

He was suspended for four games in 2008 after claiming he took the product, and then sued Haskell for $750,000 in lost wages and damages.

Haskell also listed in her bankruptcy filings potential multimillion-dollar claims by the NFL, players and teams including the Saints, Vikings, Falcons and Texans.

Among the other players suspended after using Haskell’s product is former Saints star running back Deuce McAllister.