A Florida family has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of selling $1 million worth of bleach touted as a "miracle cure" for the coronavirus and other serious diseases, authorities said.
A Florida family has been indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly selling $1 million worth of a "miracle" cure for COVID-19, autism, cancer and Alzheimer's disease that was actually a toxic bleach solution, authorities said.
Federal prosecutors announced the indictments Friday in Miami. Charged are Mark Grenon, 62, and his three sons, Jonathan Grenon, 34, Jordan Grenon, 26, and Joseph Grenon, 32, of Bradenton. The four men violated previous court orders and fraudulently produced and sold more than $1 million of their “Miracle Mineral Solution” products, which contained a dangerous industrial bleach liquid, according to authorities.
If convicted, the Grenons could face life imprisonment. Each faces counts of conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to violate the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, as well as criminal contempt of court related to a civil case filed by federal officials earlier this year.
The family business, masquerading as a church, sold its inventory as a cure-all for serious illnesses that also included diabetes and Parkinson's disease, the Department of Justice said in a statement.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida said the non-religious church was created to avoid government regulation of the products.
In 2019, the FDA issued a warning telling consumers not to purchase or use the solutions, advising that when mixed with citric acid, as the labels instruct, the products became a powerful bleach.
Jonathan Grenon and Jordan Grenon were arrested in 2020 on related charges and have been detained since then after a judge ruled they were a flight risk and a danger to the community. The new indictment counts supersede those charges.
Mark Grenon and Joseph Grenon are in Colombia, prosecutors said. Previously, the Grenons have represented themselves in court.
Mark Grenon and Joseph Grenon operate a “health restoration center” in Colombia and charge customers about $5,000 a month to stay there and “dose themselves with Miracle Mineral Solution,” federal prosecutors said.
“I can tell you that the Department of Justice is taking the distribution of Miracle Mineral Solution, and all chlorine dioxide products, extremely seriously,” said Michael B. Homer, the assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
