A father and three sons have been convicted by a Miami federal court for making $1 million by selling toxic bleach as a ‘miracle cure’ for coronavirus through a bogus church.
Mark Grenon, 65, and sons Jonathan, 37, Joseph, 35, and Jordan, 29 were found guilty of conspiring to defraud the U.S. government and FDA by distributing an unapproved and misbranded drug.
The jury also found Jonathan and Jordon guilty of two counts of violating federal court orders requiring them to stop selling the drug.
The conspiracy charges can carry up to five years in prison, and the contempt charges a maximum penalty of life in prison. They is set to be sentenced in Miami on October 6.
The family began selling Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS) – a chemical solution containing sodium chlorite that, when mixed with water and a citric acid activator,’ turns into chlorine dioxide – out of a fake Florida church’s website to thousands of people across the US, in 2010. The sales continued through the COVID pandemic.
Mark Grenon, 65, (pictured) and his sons were found guilty of conspiring to defraud the U.S. government and FDA by distributing an unapproved and misbranded drug
The family sold Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS), a chemical solution containing sodium chlorite that, when mixed with water and a citric acid activator,’ turns into chlorine dioxide
In April 2020, the feds cracked down on the enterprise after the Grenons defied FDA orders to stop distributing the toxic substance.
Their defiance of the court order ultimately led to criminal charges and a raid on their home in Bradenton, Florida, where investigators found loaded guns, nearly 10,000 pounds of sodium chlorite powder and thousands of bottles of MMS.
Jonathan and Jordan were arrested in Bradenton, and Joseph fled to Colombia, where he was later extradited by the Colombian authorities.
The Grenons, wearing beige prison uniforms, chose to represent themselves at the two-day trial, which ended on Wednesday.
They said nothing throughout the proceeding until the 12-person jury delivered their verdict, when Joseph told the court: ‘We will be appealing.’
Throughout the trial, prosecutors portrayed the Grenons as con men using the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing website as a front to defraud consumers and the US government.
The relatives used video pitches to appeal to customers, touting MMS as a cure for 95 percent of the world’s known diseases, including AIDS and coronavirus.
‘This whole Miracle Mineral Solution scheme was built on deception and dishonesty,’ prosecutor John Shipley said during his closing argument.
Joseph Grenon (pictured) was arrested in Colombia where the authorities extradited him back to the US
Jonathan Grenon was found guilty of two counts of violating federal court orders requiring them to stop selling the drug
Jordan was also found guilty of the conspiracy charges, meaning he could face life in prison
Mark Grenon used the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing website to flog the dangerous substance
The Grenons ‘created a fake church to make it harder for the Food and Drug Administration and government to stop them from selling snake oil’ Shipley explained. ‘This was no church. This was a scam for money — an old-fashioned scam.’
Shipley and fellow prosecutor Michael Homer described how
The Grenons called themselves ‘bishops’ and peddled MMS as ‘sacraments’ to consumers in South Florida and other parts of the United States in exchange for a ‘donation’ to the Genesis church.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga instructed the jury the Grenons could not use the First Amendment as a defense for selling MMS because their so-called church was not a religious entity.
In public warnings, the FDA said it had received several reports of hospitalizations and life-threatening conditions after people drank the dangerous substance.
The criminal case brought in April 2020 was the first pandemic-related enforcement action in Florida.