Fake COVID-19 Cure Could Mean Jail Time For Bradenton Family: DOJ

MIAMI, FL — A federal grand jury in Miami has indicted a 62-year-old Bradenton man and his three sons for fraudulently selling toxic industrial bleach as a cure for the COVID-19 virus and other serious medical conditions, the Department of Justice said in a news release.

Mark Grenon and his sons — Jonathan Grenon, 34, Jordan Grenon, 26, and Joseph Grenon, 32 — face various charges for manufacturing, marketing and selling Miracle Mineral Solution, which they claimed could cure multiple serious health conditions, including coronavirus, the DOJ said.

Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS) is a chemical solution containing sodium chlorite and water that, when ingested orally, becomes chlorine dioxide, a powerful bleach typically used for industrial water treatment or bleaching textiles, pulp and paper, the DOJ said.

The Grenons claimed that ingesting the solution could treat, prevent and cure COVID-19, according to the charges. The FDA, however, never approved MMS for treatment of COVID-19 or for any other use.

Instead, the FDA issued warnings, urging customers not to purchase or use the solution and explaining that drinking the solution is the same as drinking bleach. Dangerous side effects included severe vomiting, diarrhea and life-threatening low blood pressure, the agency said. The FDA received reports that people were hospitalized, developed life-threatening conditions and even died after drinking MMS, the DOJ said.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Grenons marketed MMS as a cure-all for other diseases and disorders, including cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, autism, malaria, hepatitis, Parkinson’s disease, herpes and HIV/AIDS, the DOJ said.

The family sold tens of thousands of bottles of MMS nationwide, including to consumers throughout South Florida, under the name Genesis II Church of Health and Healing. They created this entity, which is described on their website as a “non-religious church,” to avoid government regulation of MMS, the DOJ said.

MMS could only be acquired through a “donation” to Genesis, though the “donations” were for specific dollar amounts and mandatory, making them “effectively just sales prices,” the DOJ said. Genesis received more than $1 million from selling MMS, authorities said.

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The Grenons were also charged with criminal contempt for willfully violating federal court orders to stop distributing MMS. The DOJ said they threatened a federal judge that if the U.S. government tried to enforce the court orders, they’d “pick up guns” and instigate “a Waco.”

During the federal investigation into the Grenons, investigators learned they were making MMS in a shed in Jonathan Grenon’s Bradenton back yard. Officers seized dozens of blue chemical drums containing nearly 10,000 pounds of sodium chlorite powder, thousands of bottles of MMS, and other items used in the manufacture and distribution of MMS. The government also recovered multiple loaded firearms, including a pump-action shotgun concealed in a custom-made violin case to disguise its appearance, according to the DOJ.

Jonathan and Jordan Grenon were arrested last summer based on a criminal complaint filed by Miami federal prosecutors. They have been detained since their arrest. Mark and Joseph Grenon remain in Colombia, where they were detained in August.

Each of the four men has been charged with one county of conspiracy to commit fraud and two counts of criminal contempt. If convicted, the Grenons face up to life imprisonment.