Florida family accused of selling bleach as fake COVID-19 cure

A Florida family was convicted on Wednesday after they sold industrial bleach as a fake COVID-29 cure through their online church, authorities said. 

Mark Grenon, 65, and three of his sons—37-year-old Jonathan, 35-year-old Joseph, and 29-year-old Jordan—used the online Genesis II Church of Health and Healing to sell around $1 million worth of their “Miracle Mineral Solution,” according to prosecutors.

Their product allegedly cured 95% of all known diseases, including COVID-19, Alzheimer’s, autism, cancer, and HIV/Aids, among others. 

However, what the four men were actually selling was chlorine dioxide, a solution that is commonly used as a bleach for textiles, industrial water, and paper, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The substance can be fatal if ingested.

Authorities received reports of multiple people who had developed life-threatening conditions and needed to be hospitalized after consuming the solution. In 2020, a federal judge in Miami ordered the church to stop selling its miracle water, yet it continued to be sold. 

Prosecutors called the men “con men” and “snake-oil salesmen” who used their fake church to sell the dangerous substance as a “religious sacrament.”

Jonathan and Jordan were arrested in Bradenton, Florida, while Mark and Joseph fled to Colombia, where they were arrested and extradited to the U.S., reported The Associated Press. 

The four family members were found guilty of conspiring to defraud the United States, according to court records. Their sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 6. They can face up to five years in prison for the scheme. 

After the jury delivered its verdict after a two-day trial, Joesph Grenon said they would be appealing.