Florida family sentenced to prison for selling bleach mixture as COVID cure

Kinsey Crowley, USA TODAY
·3 min read
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The family convicted for selling a bleach mixture as COVID cure was sentenced Friday to several years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Florida.

Four men of the Bradenton, Florida Grenon family were found guilty of conspiring to defraud the United States by distributing an unapproved and misbranded drug at a trial earlier this summer. The Grenons represented themselves, while prosecutors called them “con men” and “snake-oil salesmen."

Prosecutors said the men sold more than $1 million of the “Miracle Mineral Solution,” commonly referred to as MMS, claiming it could cure almost any ailment including coronavirus. Mark Grenon founded the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing, which he admitted to being a front to to protect their practice of selling MMS, according to court documents.

Jonathan Grenon, 37, and Jordan Grenon, 29, were also sentenced for contempt of court for ignoring court orders to stop selling MMS and threatening the presiding judge; they were sentenced to more than 12½ years in prison.

Mark Grenon, 66, and Joseph Grenon, 36, were sentenced to five years in prison, the maximum sentence for their charge, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

Genesis II Church of Health and Healing used as front for selling MMS

Court records show evidence prosecutors used to demonstrate that they knew MMS was not approved by the FDA, as previously reported by USA TODAY.

  • The Genesis website referred to itself as a “non-religious church.”

  • In a February 2020 interview, Mark Grenon said, “Because everything you do commercially is under the Universal Commercial Code, okay? A church is completely separate from that code, statutes, and laws. That’s why a priest can give a kid wine in church publicly and not get arrested.”

  • The Grenons sold MMS online for mail delivery via several different websites. The evidence collected by the FDA’s undercover investigation shows that the shipments were often labeled and promoted as “sacraments.”

  • The sentencing release says that the products were available via a required "donation" of specific amounts, effectively making them sale prices.

The false promises of the Miracle Mineral Solution

Barrell containing sodium chlorite powder shown as evidence during trial against Grenon Family.
Barrell containing sodium chlorite powder shown as evidence during trial against Grenon Family.

Starting a decade before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Grenons touted MMS as a cure for a number of diseases including cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and leukemia. They sold thousands of bottles of MMS since starting the church in 2010, raking in more than $1 million.

The product they sold directed customers to mix a sodium chlorite and water solution with an acidic activator. The chemical result was a powerful bleaching agent typically used for industrial water treatments or stripping textiles.

Evidence shown to the jury included photos of barrels containing 10,000 pounds of sodium chlorite power found at the Grenons' home in Bradenton, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

Former member of the Church of Scientology Jim Humble created the potion in the late 1990s. Mark Grenon learned of MMS from Humble, and together they devised a plan to build and expand the church globally.

But MMS quickly received pushback and was even banned in six countries after reports surfaced of hospitalizations, life-threatening conditions, and death.

Still, Grenon took credit when Trump touted false promises of a “disinfectant” that could cure coronavirus. Grenon said he had sent the president a letter urging him to promote MMS just days earlier.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Florida family selling bleach mix as COVID cure sentenced to prison