A father from Florida and his three sons are facing charges after they sold thousands of bottles of a bleach solution that they marketed as a "miracle cure" for several common diseases, including COVID-19, reports say.
A case had been filed against Mark Grenon and his sons Jonathan, Jordan and Joseph Grenon, who were accused of fraud and for violating civil court orders that prevented them from further selling the product that they called "Miracle Mineral Solution" or MMS.
According to The Blaze, the Florida family earned over $1 million since they began selling the fake COVID-19 "cure" in March 2020. Documents filed in the federal court in the state's southern district revealed that during a 2020 podcast, Mark Grenon "referred to the 2nd Amendment and threatened a federal judge over a court order halting the sale of MMS, saying she was committing 'treason.'"
The court documents also detailed how the Florida family manufactured the fake COVID-19 cure using a bleach solution, right in their backyard shed in Bradenton, just south of Tampa. NBC News reported that the family then marketed the fake COVID-19 cure in an "avowedly" non-religious church named "Genesis II Church of Health and Healing."
The Florida family claimed that the fake COVID-19 cure was also a great medicine for serious illnesses such as cancer, autism, diabetes, and other disorders. The documents showed that from an average income of $32,000 a month, the Florida family earned up to $123,000 monthly when they began marketing it as a COVID-19 cure in March 2020.
The Florida family was able to sell over 28,000 bottles of their bleach-based fake COVID-19 cure. The New York Times reported that the family relied on a book, radio station, and newsletter to market the bogus medicine, targeting vulnerable consumers by citing Bible verses. It is yet unclear if anyone has fallen ill or had died from ingesting the Grenons' fake COVID-19 cure.
When authorities raided the Florida family's Bradenton property, they found dozens of chemical drums, about 10,000 pounds of sodium nitrate and thousands of bottles of the solution that they claimed could cure diseases. Also in the property were loaded firearms, including a pump-action shotgun that was concealed in a custom-made violin case.
The Florida family was charged with conspiracy to commit fraud and criminal contempt and are facing life in prison if convicted.
Mark Grenon, the father, described himself as "an archbishop and a founder" and yet claimed that the church "has nothing to do with religion." Instead, he claimed that he founded the church specifically to "legalize the use of the bleach solution and to avoid going to prison," the prosecutors said.
Jonathan Grenon and Jordan Grenon have already been arrested last year on related charges, but Mark Grenon and Joseph Grenon are still at large in Colombia, where they are believed to be running a "health restoration center." Court records show that the two charged clients about $5,000 a month for an inpatient stay at the facility where they would ingest the fake COVID-19 cure.
