In a scheme that began in 2010, four members of a Florida family were found guilty of marketing hazardous industrial bleach through their online church as a miraculous treatment for COVID-19 and other physical and mental illnesses.
On Thursday, a federal jury in Miami, Florida, found Mark Grenon, 65, and his sons Jonathan, 37, Joseph, 35, and Jordan, 29, guilty of conspiring to defraud the US and deliver counterfeit pharmaceuticals. Delivering counterfeit medications and conspiring to defraud the United States each carry sentences of up to five years in prison.
“This whole Miracle Mineral Solution scheme was built on deception and dishonesty,” prosecutor John Shipley said during his closing argument.
The United States Attorney Office Southern District of Florida said in a press release that the Grenons, who called their mixture the Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS), claimed that the hazardous industrial bleach was a cure for COVID-19, cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, autism, malaria, hepatitis, Parkinson’s, herpes, HIV/AIDS, and other serious medical conditions.
The Grenons MMS, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, contained sodium chlorite and water, which when consumed orally, transforms into chlorine dioxide, a potent bleach used for bleaching fabrics, pulp, and paper.
Authorities claim that the Florida family operated under the pretence of Genesis II Church of Health and Healing while peddling their hazardous goods. The Grenons allegedly made more than $1 million from the sale of their goods, according to the indictment.
Although some of the leaders held the titles of “bishop” or “archbishop,” Mark Grenon allegedly admitted on numerous occasions that the church had “nothing to do with religion” and that its primary purpose was to escape going to jail.
After hearing stories of people needing hospitalisations after consuming the deadly medication, a Miami federal judge ordered the church to stop distributing it in July 2020. Despite receiving a directive to stop, the Grenons continued to sell MMS.
Consumers were also advised by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) “not to drink sodium chlorite products such as Miracle Mineral Solution.” According to the FDA, consuming the solution will “make you sick” and may result in harmful side effects such as severe vomiting, diarrhoea, and perhaps fatally low blood pressure.
The indictment also claims that, prior to selling MMS as a treatment for COVID-19, the Grenons claimed the drug was a miraculous panacea for numerous other critical illnesses and disorders, despite the FDA’s lack of approval.
In Bradenton, Florida, Jonathan and Jordan Grenon were taken into custody. While doing so, Joseph and Mark Grenon escaped to Colombia, where they were apprehended and sent back to the United States.
The date of their sentencing is set for October 6.
