Mark Grenon and Joseph Grenon (Columbia’s Prosecutor’s Press Office) and mug shots of Jonathan (left) and Jordan Grenon (DOJ)
A father from Florida and his three adult children will each be spending several years behind bars for promoting and selling a “miracle” cure for COVID-19 that was actually a powerful and toxic industrial bleach.
A federal judge on Friday sentenced Mark Grenon, 66, and his sons, Joseph Grenon, 36, Jonathan Grenon, 37, and Jordan Grenon, 29 to prison after they were all found guilty earlier this year on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States for distributing the unapproved and toxic drug, authorities announced.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, Jonathan and Jordan Grenon were also previously found guilty on one count each of contempt of court. Each was sentenced to a total of 151 months — just over 12 1/2 years — behind bars. Mark and Joseph Grenon were sentenced to five years each.
According to prosecutors, the Grenons told consumers during the height of the pandemic that drinking their “Miracle Mineral Solution” (MMS) would cure not only COVID-19, but also Alzheimer’s, autism, multiple sclerosis, and even HIV/AIDS.
Unfortunately, the chemicals in MMS, when ingested, “cause the solution to become chlorine dioxide, a powerful bleach, typically used for industrial water treatment or bleaching textiles, pulp, and paper.”
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in late 2019 issued an official warning to consumers advising them not to purchase or drink MMS as the agency had received numerous reports of people who ingested the product suffering from severe vomiting and diarrhea, life-threatening low blood pressure caused by dehydration and acute liver failure. The FDA stated that “drinking MMS was the same as drinking bleach.”
“MMS is a chemical solution containing sodium chlorite and water which, when ingested orally, became chlorine dioxide, a powerful bleach typically used for industrial water treatment or bleaching textiles, pulp, and paper,” prosecutors wrote.
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Authorities said that the pandemic was just one of many opportunities that the Grenon family exploited to try and fraudulently sell MMS, essentially marketing it as a panacea.
“Before marketing MMS as a cure for COVID-19, the Grenons marketed MMS as a miracle cure-all for dozens of other serious diseases and disorders, such as cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and leukemia, even though the FDA had not approved MMS for any use. The Grenons sold tens of thousands of bottles of MMS nationwide,” the prosecutor’s release states. “They sold this dangerous product under the guise of Genesis II Church of Health and Healing, an entity they created to avoid government regulation of MMS and shield themselves from prosecution.
During the trial, prosecutors showed jurors photos and video of “a dirty rundown shed in Jonathan Grenon’s backyard” in Bradenton, Florida, where the defendants would manufacture MMS. The shed contained dozens of blue chemical drums totaling 10,000 pounds of sodium chlorite powder, thousands of bottles of MMS, and other items used in the manufacture and distribution of MMS.
One of the chemical drums found in Jonathan Grenon’s shed (DOJ)
“The blue chemical drums of sodium chlorite powder—the primary active ingredient in MMS—had warning labels advising the product was toxic, flammable, and highly dangerous to consume.”
Prosecutors say that the Grenons made more than $1 million from selling MMS.
The contempt of court charges against Jonathan and Jordan Grenon stem from a civil lawsuit the government filed against them and the Genesis II Church in regards to MMS. The suits resulted in a court order prohibiting the distribution of MMS which Jonathan and Jordan Grenon “wilfully violated.” The duo also “threatened the federal judge presiding over the civil case, and threatened that, should the government attempt to enforce the court orders halting their distribution of MMS, the Grenons would ‘pick up guns’ and instigate ‘a Waco.’”
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