LINCOLN (AP) — An Omaha businessman pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges of mail fraud and promoting an unregistered pesticide to market a product he falsely claimed was “EPA-approved” and effective against the COVID virus.
Matthew Petersen, 39, of Omaha, chairman of Quin Global, is scheduled to be sentenced along with his company on July 19 before U. S. District Judge Robert Rossiter.
Petersen faces a maximum of one year in jail, a $50,000 fine and one year of supervised release. His company faces five years of probation on the charge and fines of $500,000 and $200,000, respectively, representing double the gross profit. or loss on the sale of the product, whichever is greater.
The federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act requires the registration and submission of knowledge about the efficacy of all insecticides sold in the United States, with the addition of antimicrobial insecticides such as the one advertised through Quin Global.
In March 2020, Quin Global sought to expand its business by promoting an antimicrobial it had purchased from an EPA-approved distributor. It diluted and repackaged the product in its own application systems, marketing it under the name Ramsol-RS1.
But the company never applied for registration with FIFRA or EPA approval. Meanwhile, the product was shipped to 73 suppliers in the United States and Canada.
In July 2020, the EPA’s research center tested the product Quin Global and found that it was particularly diluted, with the active ingredients diluting more than a hundred times more than the product when combined with a gallon of water.
Quin Global, according to the U. S. Attorney’s Office, sold about $1. 4 million worth of Ramsol-RS1 and similar devices for $185,000 before halting sales after clashing with the Environmental Protection Agency.
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by Paul Hammel, Nebraska Examiner March 19, 2024
LINCOLN (AP) — An Omaha businessman pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges of mail fraud and promoting an unregistered pesticide to market a product he falsely claimed was “EPA-approved” and effective against the COVID virus.
Matthew Petersen, 39, of Omaha, chairman of Quin Global, is scheduled to be sentenced along with his company on July 19 before U. S. District Judge Robert Rossiter.
Petersen faces a maximum of one year in jail, a $50,000 fine and one year of supervised release. His company faces five years of probation on the charge and fines of $500,000 and $200,000, respectively, representing double the gross profit. or loss on the sale of the product, whichever is greater.
The federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act requires the registration and submission of knowledge about the efficacy of all insecticides sold in the United States, with the addition of antimicrobial insecticides such as the one advertised through Quin Global.
In March 2020, Quin Global sought to expand its business by promoting an antimicrobial it had purchased from an EPA-approved distributor. It diluted and repackaged the product in its own application systems, marketing it under the name Ramsol-RS1.
But the company never applied for registration with FIFRA or EPA approval. Meanwhile, the product was shipped to 73 suppliers in the United States and Canada.
In July 2020, the EPA’s research center tested the product Quin Global and found that it was particularly diluted, with the active ingredients diluting more than a hundred times more than the product when combined with a gallon of water.
Quin Global, according to the U. S. Attorney’s Office, sold about $1. 4 million worth of Ramsol-RS1 and similar devices for $185,000 before halting sales after clashing with the Environmental Protection Agency.
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Senior reporter Paul Hammel has been covering the government and state of Nebraska for decades. He previously ran for the Omaha World-Herald, the Lincoln Journal Star and the Omaha Sun, and is a member of the Omaha Press Club Hall of Fame. He jumps, homebrews, plays bass, and loves to write about the state. A native of Ralston, Nebraska, he is vice president of John G. Neihardt.
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