UPDATE
Aug 29, 2023 2:46 PM CDT
A Toronto-area chef accused of selling sodium nitrite and other products that could be used in suicides to vulnerable people has been hit with a a dozen new charges, all in connections with deaths in Ontario. Police say the new charges against Kenneth Law, who already faced two counts of counseling or aiding suicide, involve victims ranging in age from 16 to 36, the Guardian reports. Police say that out of around 1,200 packages mailed by Law, some 160 were sent to addresses in Canada, reports CP24. The others were sent to around 40 countries including the US and the UK, where investigators believe the 57-year-old could be linked to as many as 88 deaths.
Aug 25, 2023 8:48 AM CDT
A Canadian chef arrested in May in connection with two suicides could be linked to many more deaths in Canada and overseas, investigators say. Kenneth Law, 57, allegedly marketed sodium nitrite, which is used to cure meat but is lethal in its pure form, to vulnerable people in several countries. Britain's National Crime Agency says it received a list of 232 of Law's customers and found that 88 of them had died, the Guardian reports. The agency say it hasn't confirmed a link between the deaths and the kits Law mailed from the Toronto area, but the investigation is still in its early stages.
Law also allegedly sold equipment that could be used in suicides, including gas masks and rubber tubing, through a business called Escape Mode, CP24 reports. The sodium nitrite was mainly sold through a business called Imtime Cuisine, investigators say. Law, who has also worked as an aerospace engineer, is suspected of sending at least 1,200 packages to more than 40 countries, the AP reports. He is also being investigated in the US, Italy, Australia, and New Zealand. Law was arrested soon after a Times of London report on his activities was published in April. He told an undercover reporter posing as a suicidal customer that "many, many, many, many" people had died after taking his product.
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Law, who gave the undercover reporter instructions on using the product to end their life, claimed that 95% of his customers had a "health or old-age" issue. The Times reported, however, that it couldn't find anyone over 40 in the UK who had died from taking Law's product. The youngest was 17. In Canada, Law faces two counts of counseling or aiding suicide, which has a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. He will face the same charge, and same maximum sentence, if he is extradited to the UK.
The US suicide and crisis lifeline can be reached by calling or texting 988. Investigators say people worried that loved ones may have ordered Law's products should look out for packages or transactions from the following companies:
- Imtime Cuisine
- AmbuCA
- Academic/ACademic
- Escape Mode/escMode
- ICEmac
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uBlock 
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Ghostery 
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