Four members of a Florida family circle were convicted Wednesday of promoting a poisonous commercial bleaching agent as a fake cure for COVID-19 through their online church.
A federal jury in Miami found Mark Grenon, 65, and his sons, Jonathan, 37, Joseph, 35, and Jordan, 29, guilty of conspiracy to defraud the United States and deliver mislabeled drugs, according to court records. The fee carries a five-year sentence. His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 6.
The Grenons represented themselves but refused to speak at the two-day trial, the Miami Herald reported. After the jury returned its verdict, Joseph Grenon said he would appeal.
Prosecutors called the Grenons “criminals” and “snake oil sellers” and said the Genesis II Church of Family Health and Healing sold their alleged miracle mineral solution for $1 million, distributing it to tens of thousands of others across the country. In videos, the solution was sold as a cure for 95 percent of known diseases, in addition to COVID-19, Alzheimer’s disease, autism, brain cancer, HIV/AIDS and sclerosis, prosecutors said.
What the Grenons were promoting was chlorine dioxide, officials said. When ingested, the solution becomes a bleaching agent typically used for things like textile processing, commercial water, pulp and paper, according to the Food and Drug Administration, which warned that eating it can cause harmful side effects such as severe vomiting, diarrhea and life-threatening hypotension. Authorities said it was the same as drinking bleach and could be deadly.
Authorities said in July 2022 that they had received reports of others needing hospitalization, having life-threatening conditions and even dying after drinking the solution.
A federal ruling in Miami ordered the church to stop selling the content in 2020, but that was ignored.
Jonathan and Jordan Grenon arrested in Bradenton, Florida. Mark and Joseph Grenon fled to Colombia, where they were arrested and extradited to the United States.
In addition to the fraud convictions, Jonathan and Jordan Grenon were also found guilty of violating federal court orders requiring them to avoid promoting Miracle Mineral Solution in 2020. USA. U. S. The government agreed to drop the same contempt charges that opposed Mark and Joseph Grenon as a condition of their extradition from Colombia.
In the indictment against the circle of family members, the government alleged that they were the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing, an entity they described as a “non-religious church,” to avoid government regulation of the solution and to protect themselves from prosecution. The mineral solution can only be acquired through a “donation” to the church, but the donation amounts were set at express dollar amounts and were mandatory, according to the indictment.